Abstract:
The problem of cylinder liner seizure of marine engines fitted on-board Fast Attack Craft
(FAC) is an outstanding issue in Sri Lanka Navy(SLN).This failure has resulted in the
wastage of money, manpower, reliability and non-operation of craft fitted with these engines.
The Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) has tried to solve this issue by extensive
investigations. However, the problem has not been fully resolved.
The research is mainly focused on geometrical aspects, surface texture, parameters of
cylinder liner and low load running as these are the most influential factors for a cylinder
liner. The parameters of the engine were investigated experimentally by preparing an
experimented cylinder liner and installing it on 04 engines, surface texture and geometry of
cylinder liners were inspected by obtaining sample cylinder liners from stock, and Low Load
Running was examined on 04 Nos. engines for 06 months duration.
Literature survey revealed that most of the researches are related to thermal cracking,
excessive wear down and lubrication oil failure, however, less attention has been paid
towards the cooling water system of the engine. Therefore, engines were operated in steady
state condition and also in various transient load conditions with experimented cylinder
liners to understand the behaviour of the coolant system and related parameters.
It was revealed that the coolant system of the engine is not responding properly to cater to
transient load changes of the engine and as a result, the cooling water temperature as well as
the cylinder liner wall temperature could not achieve the required temperature to maintain
sufficient clearance between piston and cylinder liner, thus causing a risk of cylinder liner
seizure. Hence, a more sensitive thermostatic control valve can be introduced, which can
respond very quickly in order to maintain specified elevated temperature values of the
engine.
The research is structured in 06 main chapters: (1) Introduction, referring to content, aim &
objective, methodology (2) Literature Review, addressing the theoretical background of the
problem (3) Results, complete analysis of the thesis (4) Conclusion (5) Recommendation and
(6) Future Work, referring to limitations and proposals for future research.