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1. INTRODUCTION
Low speed two-stroke diesel engines have since long
maintained a dominant position in the market for ship
propulsion. Since 1970 their share in power installed in newbuildings has risen from a level of around 50% to 80% in
1998. The upward trend in the size and service speed of
general cargo ships and in particular of container vessels [1]
has favoured the selection of the low speed engine as the main
propulsion unit of choice. With global containerisation further
increasing, combined with a continued race amongst
competing shipping lines to transport as many teus as
possible with lowest possible unit freight cost, average power
requirements for such ships is expected to increase even
further.
The rapid developments in recent years in low speed
engine design have therefore focused on increased power
output, low manufacturing and installation costs (simplicity in
design and installation procedures) and reduced operating
costs (reliability and fuel and lube oil efficiency).
This has resulted in operating conditions creating ever
increasing stress levels for the lubricating oil. Thus, the actual
lubricants viscosity at operating conditions is reduced and the
loads it must withstand are increased, while longer piston
strokes have also greatly increased the time the lubricant must
cope with extreme temperatures and corrosive acids
originating from combustion of sulphur rich fuels.
Shell Global Solutions International B.V., Shell Research and Technology Centre, Amsterdam, P.O. Box 38000, 1030 BN
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Fax: +31 20 630 33 54, E-Mail: jan.j.hengeveld@opc.shell.com
**
MAN B&W Diesel A/S, Denmark
liner wall temperature near the top position of the top ring was
270C. Engine speed was 109 rpm, giving a piston speed of
8.0 m/s. Some commercial and experimental lubricants were
evaluated in short duration 50 hours tests, consisting of 5
consecutive runs of 10 hours.
4. CORROSIVE WEAR
It came much as a surprise that cold corrosion was the
predominant wear mechanism in the 4RTX54 study, since the
often quoted Shell Acid Dew Point Curves tentatively
predict an acid dew point of only approximately 180C with a
3.5%m sulphur fuel at a pressure of 180 bar [6,7]. These dew
point curves, each valid at a certain pressure, show the
temperature below which aqueous sulphuric acid condenses
versus the sulphur content of the fuel (Fig. 5). They were
defined on basis of a degree of SO2 conversion of 2.5% (see
below), an air water vapour content of 5% and an air-to-fuel
ratio of 35 : 1 (kg:kg).
Temperature,C
Pressure, Bar
200
150
100
80
60
40
20
180
170
160
10
More Acid
150
140
130
120
Stronger Acid
110
100
0
2
3
Fuel Sulphur Content, %m
[O]
[O]
[H2O]
300
300
Temperature,C
Pressure, Bar
200
175
150
125
100
75
275
275
250
250
50
225
225
25
200
200
10
175
175
150
150
1
125
125
100
100
0
based upon dew points of water and a correction factor for the
presence of sulphuric acid [13].
higher than the relatively cold liner wall on which basis the
acid dew point was calculated, SO3 in the hot gas is probably
still mainly present as such rather than as gaseous sulphuric
acid that participates in the phase equilibrium at the liner wall.
This lower acid concentration, of course, will affect the dew
point. Furthermore, at the dew point temperature the amount
of liquid is still equal to zero, and no information is available
on the actual amount of acid condensed close to the dew point
temperatures, nor on the kinetics of this condensation.
Another cause for uncertainty is the largely varying
corrosivity of different sulphuric acid concentrations. It may
well be that just moving the concentration of the condensate
into a less harmful region is already sufficient to control
corrosive wear, rather than to attempt to avoid condensation
of the acid altogether [14].
5. SCUFFING WEAR
Although in the 4RTX54 wear study, virtually no adhesive
wear was observed, there is a growing number of reports that
todays highly rated large bore engines installed in container
ships and in power stations are indeed susceptible to show
scuffing. One reason for this discrepancy may be the
relatively short duration of the 4RTX54 tests, which is of
course very different from running an engine in actual
operating circumstances, at sea or in a power station for many
thousands of hours. During such long time a variety of
conditions may occur that amongst others could develop into
scuffing.
The consequence of high temperatures in an engine is a
low oil film thickness from reduced oil viscosity which may
then be incapable of providing a sufficiently thick oil film
between ring and liner at the increased pressures. Under such
conditions the surface asperities on the liner and ring surfaces
make direct metal-to-metal contact resulting in local welding
and metal deformation. When this contact takes place at local
level at low rate, for instance in the running-in phase of new
hardware components, it only results in increased wear rates.
Conditions can also be such, however, that this adhesive wear
gets out of control through collapse of the oil film in a larger
surface area and this results in unstable and high wear which
is usually referred to as scuffing. As a result liner surfaces can
get severely damaged and piston rings can get micro seizures
and scratches to various degrees (Fig. 7).
reciprocating motion
temperature sensor
OPERATION
oil bath
heated block
FUEL OIL
VALVE TIMING
TURBOCHARGING
LINER QUALITY
fixed plate
friction sensor
SURFACE FINISH
PRESSURE RATIOS
HEAT RELEASE
PISTON RING
PROFILE
SCUFFING
NOT
ESTABLISHED
POORLY
ESTABLISHED
DESTROYED
??????
moving specimen
SURFACE
CONDITIONS
OIL FILM
FILM STRENGTH
SPREADABILITY
VISCOSITY
AT SURFACE
BASE OILS
& BLENDS
LUBRICATION
K.Wilson, CIMAC 1998
30
100
25
80
20
60
15
40
10
20
5
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
325
wear, m (..)
friction force, N
0
350
30
100
25
80
20
60
15
40
10
wear, m (..)
friction force, N
temperature (C)
20
290C
5
150
175
200
225
250
275
300
325
0
350
375
low scuffing sensitivity
30
100
25
80
20
60
15
40
350
fail temperature, C
wear, m (..)
friction force, N
300
ALEXIA 50
275
very prone to scuffing
250
10
20
240C
5
150
175
200
225
250
225
285C
275
300
325
0
350
200
References
[1]
6.
CONCLUSIONS