Abstract:
Wooden furniture is being widely used in all countries due to its convenience and being produced from
the natural raw material. In furniture design esthetic, ergonomics and safety are the main criteria. Safety
means the strength of furniture. Unfortunately, most of the time the strength of furniture is not taken
into account in design as much as esthetic and ergonomics. This leads to the use of excess material
meaning high cost or usage of less material causing some dangers in use. In literature, the first study
of finite element method (FEM) in furniture design was in 1966. The technological developments in
software and hardware promoted those studies. In those researches, the strength analysis had been
done for different kinds of wood. In one of the latest studies, irregular types of sitting on the chair had
been analyzed by FEM. In our study, the chair produced from southern red oak (Quercus falcata), pine
red (Pinus resinosa) and Spruce Engelmann (Picea engelmannii) wood are simulated by free drop from
two different heights defined in packaging standards. The strength at different parts and corners of the
chair is analyzed as free dropped on its front legs by ANSYSTM. In this study, some suggestions are
developed for furniture designers and manufacturers.
