Purpose: – This paper aims to use the crankshaft-bearing system of a four-cylinder internal combustion engine as the studying object, and develop a multi-objective optimization design of the crankshaft-bearing. In the current optimization design of engine crankshaft-bearing, only the crankshaft-bearing was considered as the studying object. However, the corresponding relations of major structure dimensions exist between the crankshaft and the crankshaft-bearing in internal combustion engine, and there are the interaction effects between the crankshaft and the crankshaft-bearing during the operation of internal combustion engine. Design/methodology/approach: – The crankshaft mass and the total frictional power loss of crankshaft-bearing s are selected as the objective functions in the optimization design of crankshaft-bearing. The Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm based on the idea of decreasing strategy of inertia weight with the exponential type is used in the optimization calculation. Findings: – The total frictional power loss of crankshaft-bearing and the crankshaft mass are decreased, respectively, by 26.2 and 5.3 per cent by the multi-objective optimization design of crankshaft-bearing, which are more reasonable than the ones of single-objective optimization design in which only the crankshaft-bearing is considered as the studying object. Originality/value: – The crankshaft-bearing system of a four-cylinder internal combustion engine is taken as the studying object, and the multi-objective optimization design of crankshaft-bearing based on the crankshaft-bearing system is developed. The results of this paper are helpful to the design of the crankshaft-bearing for engine. There is universal significance to research the multi-objective optimization design of crankshaft-bearing based on the crankshaft-bearing system. The research method of the multi-objective optimization design of crankshaft-bearing based on the crankshaft-bearing system can be used to the optimization design of the bearing in the shaft-bearing system of ordinary machinery.

Only the lubrication performance at rated engine operating condition was generally analyzed in current design and research of engine connecting-rod and main bearing. However, the actual engine (especially vehicle engine) does not always operate in rated operating condition and its operating condition changes constantly. In this paper, a four-stroke four-cylinder engine is taken as the studying object, the load and lubrication of connecting-rod and main bearing in different operating conditions are analyzed. The load of connecting-rod bearing is calculated by the dynamic calculation method, the loads of all main bearings are calculated by the whole crankshaft beam-element finite element method, and the lubrication performance of connecting-rod and main bearings are analyzed by the dynamic method. The results show that there are major differences in the changes and numerical value at corresponding moment of the loads and lubrication performance of connecting-rod and main bearings in an engine operating cycle in different engine operating conditions; the most unfavorable case of the lubrication performance of connecting-rod and main bearings may not take place in the rated engine operating condition. There are also major differences between the lubrication performance of connecting-rod bearing and that of main bearing and between the lubrication performances of main bearings one another. Therefore, it will not be reasonable that the lubrication performance of a certain connecting-rod bearing or main bearing is analyzed in the design of the engine bearing. It is necessary to analyze simultaneously the lubrication performances of all bearings in different engine operating conditions.

Based on the coordinate transformation method, the generalized turbulent lubrication equation considering the axial motion of the journal is derived. The finite-difference method is used to solve the generalized turbulent lubrication equation. The variations of turbulent lubrication performance with axial displacement for different axial movement velocity of the journal, journal misalignment angle, and initial mid-plane eccentricity ratio are obtained. The results show that when the axial movement velocity of the journal increases, the mid-plane eccentricity ratio of the bearing and the minimum film thickness remain unchanged, the average Reynolds number, maximum film pressure, load capacity, frictional power, and side leakage increases. As the axial displacement of the journal increases, the greater the misalignment angle of the journal, the greater the degree of misalignment, maximum film pressure, load capacity, and misalignment moment of the bearing. The greater the initial mid-plane eccentricity ratio, the greater the degree of journal misalignment, maximum film pressure, load capacity, frictional power, and misalignment moment.

Journal misalignment in bearings caused by crankshaft deformation under load exists generally in internal combustion engines. When serious journal misalignment takes place, the minimum oil-film thickness of bearings is greatly reduced and the maximum oil-film pressure of the bearings increases markedly. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the surface roughness and deformation of bearing surface when analysing the hydrodynamic lubrication characteristics of a misaligned bearing. In this paper, the elastohydrodynamic lubrication properties of crankshaft bearings considering crankshaft deformation under load and the surface roughness for a four-cylinder internal combustion engine were studied. The lubrications of the crankshaft bearings were analysed by the dynamic method. The deformation of the bush surface under the oil-film pressure was calculated by the deformation matrix method. The results show that, when crankshaft deformation is considered, the surface roughness has a marked effect on the orbits of the crankshaft bearings, but deformation of the bearing surface scarcely affects the orbits of the crankshaft bearings. When the surface roughness of a bearing is considered, the maximum oil-film pressure of crankshaft bearings obviously increases, the minimum oil-film thickness decreases markedly, and the end flowrate changes little in most of the engine cycle. When elastic deformation of the bearing surface is considered, the maximum oil-film pressure of bearings decreases to a different extent: elastic deformation of the bearing surface affects the end flowrate, the frictional coefficient of the journal, and the minimum oil-film thickness very little.

The status of the lubricating oil transport in the piston skirt-cylinder liner has important influence on the lubrication of piston assembly frictional pair, the consumption of lubricating oil, the emission, and the performance degradation of lubrication oil. In this paper, based on the model of piston secondary motion, fluid lubrication and lubricating oil flow, the status of the lubricating oil transport between the piston skirt and the cylinder liner on different engine operating condition is calculated, and the quantity of lubricating oil retained on the surface of cylinder liner is mainly analyzed when the piston skirt moves from the top dead center to the bottom dead center. The results show that the variation of the quantity of retained lubricating oil is almost same in the corresponding stroke on different engine operating condition; the quantity of retained lubricating oil is dissimilar at different moment and is equal in principle at the piston top and bottom dead center. The quantity of lubricating oil retention is dissimilar at different moment in the intake stroke or expansion stroke, but the quantity of lubricating oil retention is equal in principle at the top and bottom dead center on different engine operating condition. When the engine is on the same load condition, as the engine rotational speed increasing, the quantity of retained lubricating oil is decreased in the whole intake stroke and the middle and later parts of expansion stroke, but the quantity of retained lubricating oil is increased in the front part of expansion stroke. When the engine is on the same rotational speed condition, the quantity of retained lubricating oil increases with the increasing engine load in the front part of expansion stroke, it does not vary with the engine load in principle in the middle and later part of expansion stroke, the variation that the quantity of retained lubricating oil varies with the engine load is dissimilar in the intake stroke on different engine rotational speed condition.