Toyota M15A Connecting Rod — Kinematics & FEA
Complete mechanical engineering design and structural verification for the connecting rod of the Toyota Dynamic Force 1.5L M15A-FXE engine (Yaris Mk4). Features dynamic piston acceleration and gas pressure inertia calculations, Goodman-Smith fatigue criteria, and Ansys FEA mesh convergence.
Automotive Mechanical Engineering
The Toyota M15A-FXE (Dynamic Force 1.5L 3-cylinder) powers the Toyota Yaris Mk4 Hybrid with up to 41% thermal efficiency. This project performs a complete structural, dynamic, and fatigue analysis of the engine's connecting rod under peak combustion pressure (120 bar) and high-RPM inertia loads.
Engineering Workflow
1. Kinematics & Inertia: Derived piston displacement, velocity, and acceleration equations as functions of crankshaft angle θ. 2. Pressure vs Inertia Load Curves: Computed net forces across the 4-stroke cycle, identifying peak tensile loads at TDC overlap and peak compressive loads at ignition. 3. FEA Verification: Ansys structural simulation for Von Mises stress distribution on small-end bushing, I-beam shank, and big-end journal. 4. Fatigue Verification: Goodman-Smith diagrams with safety factors n > 1.8 under infinite-life regime (10^7 cycles).