INFLUENCE OF THE STIFFNESS OF CORNER JOINT ON CASE FURNITURE DEFLECTION

The stiffness of corner joints affects the strength of case furniture. The stiffness of corner joint was varied by changing the dowel quanti ty of case corner joints in this study. At first. the stiffness of cor ner joint parts was studied by experiments. Then the Finite Element Me thod (FEM) was used to analyse and calculate the deflections of case f urniture based on the jointing coefficient R and the moduls of elastic ity E deduced from measurements on corner joint parts. Finally experi ments to determine case furniture strength were carried out and the re liability of the calculation of FEM was verified. The results of calcu lations and experiments showed that the deflection of case furniture c ould be reduced by 5-15 percent by increasing the dowel quantity of co rner joint from two dowels to four dowels or from four dowels to eight dowels. The defelection of case furniture containing shelves could be reduced by increasing the stiffness or corner joints.