A study of the tribological behaviour of piston ring/cylinder liner interaction in diesel engines using acoustic emission

The novel use of non-intrusive acoustic emission (AE) measurements to provide information pertaining to the interaction between piston rings and cylinder liners in a range of diesel engines is investigated in this paper. In doing so, this technique is shown to offer a new method of investigation into this important interface in engine operation.AE generated during normal engine operation is known to consist of contributions from a number of different sources such as injector and valve activity. A recent finding has been the identification of AE signals associated with the ring/liner interface which presents the opportunity for in-service monitoring. This work discusses the possible AE source mechanisms, such as asperity contact, lubricant flow and/or blowby, through reference to a number of tests on motored and in-service small HSDI diesel engines and large, 2-stroke, marine diesel engines. The influence of various factors such as engine speed, load and lubrication is considered.