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An Analysis of Floating Piston Pin 2011-01-1407

Published
04/12/2011

Fanghui Shi
General Motors Company

Copyright © 2011 SAE International

doi:10.4271/2011-01-1407

scuff resistance, and noise generation, and are being

ABSTRACT
Presented in the paper is a comprehensive analysis for
floating piston pin. It is more challenging because it is a
special type of journal bearing where the rotation of the
journal is coupled with the friction between the journal and
the bearing. In this analysis, the multi-degree freedom mass-
conserving mixed-EHD equations are solved to determine the
coupled pin rotation and friction. Other bearing
characteristics, such as minimum film thickness, pin
secondary motions in both connecting-rod small-end bearing
and piston pin-boss bearing, power loss etc are also
determined. The mechanism for floating pin to have better
scuffing resistance is discovered. The theoretical and
numerical model is implemented in the GM internal software
FLARE (Friction and Lubrication Analysis for Reciprocating
Engines).
implemented in more and more engine designs. A thorough
understanding of floating pin interaction with both bearings
and the remainder of the piston system is crucial to improve
the pin-joint design from the friction, surface damage and
noise perspective. A literature survey uncovered very limited
work [1,2,3] for either fixed or floating pins. In this paper, a
comprehensive theoretical and numerical model for floating
pin is presented and some results are discussed. During the
course of simulation, the mechanism explaining floating pin's
superior scuff resistance vs. fixed pins is revealed. The results
also suggest that inclusion of piston pin boss frictional
moment in piston skirt analysis can yield more accurate
prediction of piston secondary motions.

INTRODUCTION
The piston pin is an important element in a reciprocating
engine. Figure 1 shows a schematic drawing of a piston pin
joint. It transfers the reciprocating motion and combustion
force on the piston through the swing motion of the
connecting rod down to the rotating motion of the crankshaft.
With high load, small bearing load-carrying area and starved
lubrication, the piston pin may operate under severe
lubricating conditions. There are two types of piston pin
configurations depending on the engine specific output. In the
fixed pin configuration the pin is press-fit in the connecting
rod small end bearing and clearance-fit in the piston pin-boss Figure 1. Piston pin joint
so the pin rotates together with the connecting rod. In the
floating pin configuration the pin is clearance-fit in both
bearings such that the pin is free to rotate depending on the MODEL
friction on the two bearing surfaces. Floating piston pins are
The floating piston pin bearing basically has two coupled
regarded to be superior to fixed pins in terms of lubrication,
journal bearings (taking into account symmetry, the left is

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half of the connecting rod small end bearing, the right is the CAVITATION
piston pin boss bearing), as shown in the theoretical model in
As described in Shi and Salant [4], the fluid behavior for
figure 2. The couplings are through the rotation and elastic
starvation/cavitation problem is governed by the Reynolds
deformation of the pin. The bearing loads and connecting rod
equation for compressible fluids and is constrained by a set of
swing motion are calculated from the dynamics analysis for
physical conditions. The set of physical constraints are that in
the piston crank-slider mechanism. Unknowns that need to be
the full film region, fluid endures hydrodynamic pressure
solved are the secondary motions, hydrodynamic and contact
higher than the known cavitation pressure and is not
interactions between the pin and the two bearings. A multi-
compressible (known density) while in the cavitation region
degree of freedom system has been developed to analyze the
the fluid is under the known cavitation pressure and has a
lubrication problems for rotating and reciprocating engine
reduced density (fluid becomes fluid/air mixture). The
parts. In this system, the floating-pin joint is treated as a
mathematical equation is simply written as,
single five DOF bearing system that has a full bearing groove
that separate the connecting rod small end bearing from the
piston pin-boss bearing. As shown in figure 2, the five DOFs
are four translational bearing to pin relative motions and one
rotational pin motion. In addition to the 5DOF rigid body (1)
motions, the bearing surfaces and pin surfaces are assumed
elastic. Pin bending and ovalization is believed to be an with the constraints,
important contributor to the local contact concentration, and
thus friction and surface damage. Another crucial effect in
pin bearing modeling is the oil starvation or cavitation, since (2)
most pin bearings do not have either holes or grooves that are
present in most other engine bearings. Without oil supply
from the holes and grooves in the sliding direction, the pin- (3)
bearing can only get oil in the axial direction through suction
effect which is caused by the sub-ambient pressure where ρncav and pcav are known dimensionless constants,
development when the two surfaces separate. The oil flow is
then balanced (assuming periodicity of an engine cycle is
reached) by the side leakage due to the squeezing effect. (4)

(5)

The film thickness equation and the load balance equation

can be written, in matrix form, as,

(6)

(7)

Figure 2. theoretical model where L is the equivalent compliance operator of both the
bearing and pin surfaces to account for EHD effect, F is the
secondary motion operator that corresponds rigid body
GOVERNING EQUATIONS bearing to pin relative motions, J is the load operator, M is
In order to solve simultaneously the hydrodynamic pressure the mass matrix, and ε is the 4DOF bearing secondary motion
in the full film region, the reduced lubricant density in the vector, defined as,
cavitation region, the surface deformation and the secondary
motions of the journal, these unknowns need to be assembled
in a single nonlinear system of equations. The following
sections provide mathematical and numerical formulations
needed to accomplish this goal.

(8)

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Where θ is the circumferential coordinate, m1 and m2 are the
connecting rod small end bearing mass and piston mass. The
inertial frame is assumed attached on the pin surface;
secondary motions are all relative to the pin surface. Load
vector at the pin joints fx and fy are resultant force calculated
from crank slider mechanism. The difference between the
loads at two bearing joints is the piston pin inertia due to
reciprocating motion.
MIXED LUBRICATION
The pin bearing has strong EHD and thermal effects, as a
result, mixed-lubrication (most likely occurs at bearing and
broach-slot edges) needs to be present in the model. The
pressure and shear flows in Reynolds equation are corrected
using machining process dependent flow factors because of
the rough surface effect, and the metal asperity contact are
modeled as nonlinear local springs whose properties also
machining process-dependent are calculated through
numerical rough surface contact simulations. The mixed
lubrication model can be found in the literature [5]
PIN ROTATION
The 5th DOF of this bearing system is the pin rotation. It is
governed by the frictional moment:
(8)
Where I is the pin moment of inertia, R is the pin radius, and
τ is the mixed-friction on the pin surface. The pin rotational
angle θ can be obtained by explicit time-marching
integration. The time marching proceed until periodicity is
reached for an engine cycle. It usually takes two engine
cycles for the pin rotation and secondary motions to reach
periodicity. In this analysis, plastic deformation, wear and
local thermal deformation are not included, while in reality
they can all affect pin rotation.
NUMERICAL INTEGRATION
The nonlinear nature (with respect to h and cavitation) of the
Reynolds equation (1) calls for the perturbation method to
linearize and integrate the EHD effect in equation (6) and the
secondary dynamics effect in equation (7). A single nonlinear
system of equations is now formed and unknowns such as
hydrodynamic pressure in the full-film region, reduced
density in the partial-film region, secondary motions, surface
deformations, and contact pressures can be solved and
updated simultaneously. This approach provides a very
efficient and robust solution to the EHD problem as
compared to the traditional iterative approach.
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Floating piston pin configuration and operating conditions:
Engine speed: 1200rpm
Bore: 93mm
Stroke: 102mm
Connecting rod length: 152mm
Piston mass: 0.4kg
Pin mass: 0.13kg
Oil: 10W30 at temp 120C
Pin radius: 11.5mm
Radial clearances: 12.5um @ small end, 5um @ pin bore
Static Friction Coefficient: 0.10
Dynamic Friction Coefficient: 0.08
Pin Roughness: 0.25 micron
Peak combustion pressure: 1.66Mpa
As discussed in the introduction, pin bearings balance flow
through suction and squeezing effect, this is the only
mechanism to exchange oil with the environment where the
pin or bearing area are exposed to splashing. Figure 3 is a top
view of the pin joint, the broach slots are exaggerated. This
picture clearly shows an oil suction effect from the pin-boss
bearing edges as well as from the slots when cavitation (in
contour) develops. The development is due to the separation
of the two surfaces which generates sub-ambient pressure
inside the bearing clearance. At such low pressure dissolved
air and oil vapor is released into the space and become oil/air
mixture. The refill from the neighborhood takes milliseconds
if fully flooded at the boundary. At the bottom of the bearing,
however, the squeezing effect builds up pressure at the center
of the bearing and push out oil as leakage. This process is
reversed when the pin moves towards the top of the pin-boss
bearing.
Figure 4 shows the pin deformation slightly after peak
cylinder pressure. Non-uniform pressure distribution can be
seen in the contour. The contact pressure concentration is
caused by the pin bending. It should be pointed out for higher
load cases, in addition to the bearing edge contact
concentration; a line contact in the horizontal direction is
detected. This is because the pin-boss bearing is ovalized in
the vertical direction while the pin is ovalized in the
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horizontal direction, and thus the respective clearance is

reduced.

The floating pin rotation speed is plotted in Figure 5, with a

reference of connecting rod swing motion. A lagging phase-
shift is shown. The rotation of the pin intends to catch up
with the connecting rod swing motion when the friction in the
small-end bearing is able to overcome the resistance in the
piston pin-boss bearing. At around TDC firing (720 degree),
due to the dominant contact and friction in the pin-boss
bearing, the pin feels a strong braking force and stops. The
friction in the pin-boss bearing becomes static friction, and
exhibits a “friction-on-demand” behavior that exerts friction
just sufficient to balance the friction in the small-end bearing.
This process lasts until 900 degree crank angle when the pin
lose contact with the pin-boss bearing surface. This friction Figure 5. Coupled Pin Rotation and Friction
moment is not negligible as compared with piston moment
(combustion force not going through pin axis due to pin
offset) and thus should be included in the piston secondary
dynamics analysis.

Figure 6. Asperity Contact Force in Two Bearings.

Figure 3. Cavitation Effect in a Floating Pin Joint
The asperity contact forces that can lead to high friction are
shown in Figure 6 for both bearings. The small-end bearing
shows a remarkable better lubrication than the pin-boss
bearing as indicated by its much lower contact force. The
reason behind is that the small-end bearing holds oil better
than the pin-boss bearing, since it has one edge (take into
account symmetry) for side-leakage, while the pin-boss
bearing has two edges. Another reason is that pin deflection
and ovalization is larger in pin-boss bearing that can lead to
non-uniform film thickness and contact concentration.

Figure 4. Pin Deformation

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and drive the pin rotate faster with a smaller lagging-phase as

compared with the connecting rod swing motion. Further
reduction of the clearances would eventually synchronize the
pin rotation with the connecting rod swing motion and make
this joint a fixed-pin joint.

Figure 7. Power Loss in Two Bearings

The power losses in both bearings are shown in Figure 7. The

one in the pin-boss bearing disappears within the range of
700 and 900 degrees since the pin-boss bearing friction locks
the pin rotation. As the trade-off, there is a mild heat
generation in the small-end bearing. A larger heat-generation Figure 9. Maximum Contact Pressure in Pin Boss
can be expected for the fixed-pin configuration where there is Bearing for Different Pin Stiffness
relative motion in the pin-boss bearing and larger asperity
contact forces as shown in Figure 6. Besides the advantage of The contact concentration caused by the pin deflection and
reduced heat generation as compared to the fixed pin ovalization leads us to investigate the stiffer pin as an option.
configuration, the floating pin has the adaptability to allocate Figure 9 shows a 15% reduction of maximum contact
heat in the two bearings to minimize surface damage. The pressure if a stiffer pin is used as the load is more evenly
mechanism is that the sharp rise of friction at the initiation of distributed on the pin surface.
surface damage would lock the relative motion and thus
reduce heat-generation and friction in that particular bearing
and pass the risk to the other healthier bearing. This process
can continue until the heat is balanced on both bearings.

Figure 10. Power loss in the Small-End Bearing

For the same reason, friction and power loss are reduced in
Figure 8. Pin Rotation for Different Small-End Bearing the connecting-rod small-end bearing by 25%, as shown in
Clearances Figure 10.

The pin rotation for different small-end bearing clearances SUMMARY

are shown in figure 8. As expected, the general shapes of the This paper presents an analytical model for floating piston
curves are similar, tighter bearing clearances increase friction pin. It captured the coupling nature of the pin rotation and

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friction and showed the mechanism of lubrication that is

through suction effect. It demonstrated the superior scuff-
resistance for the floating pin over fixed pin. It also showed
the contact concentration due to pin deflection and
ovalization and studied a stiffer pin to improve this situation.

REFERENCES
1. Takigushi, M., Oguri, M., and Someya, T., “A Study of
Rotating Motion of Piston Pin in Gasoline Engine,” SAE
Technical Paper 938142, 1993, doi: 10.4271/938142.
2. Suhara, T., Ato, S., Takiguchi, M., and Furuhama, S.,
“Friction and Lubrication Characteristics of Piston Pin Boss
Bearings of an Automotive Engine,” SAE Technical Paper
970840, 1997, doi: 10.4271/970840.
3. Ligier, J. and Ragot, P., “Piston Pin: Wear and Rotating
Motion,” SAE Technical Paper 2005-01-1651, 2005, doi:
10.4271/2005-01-1651.
4. Shi, F. and Salant, R.F., 1999, “A Soft Mixed-
Elastohydrodynamic Lubrication Model with Interasperity
Cavitation and Surface Shear Deformation”, ASME Journal
of Tribology, Vol. 122, pp. 308-316.
5. Shi, F. and Wang, Q, 1998, “A Mixed-TEHD Model for
Journal Bearing Conformal Contacts-Part I: Model
Formulation and Approximation of Heat Transfer
Considering Asperity Contact,” ASME Journal of Tribology,
Vol.120, pp. 198-205.

CONTACT
Fanghui Shi
GM Powertrain CAE Methods
fanghui.shi@gm.com

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