OPTIMAL DESIGN OF THE TRADITIONAL CHINESE WOOD FURNITURE JOINT BASED ON EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL METHODS

In this study, computer aided technology was utilized to improve the traditional grid shoulder mortise-and-tenon joint (GSMTJ). Firstly, the traditional GSMTJ was redesigned through using separated loose tenon by the computer aided design (CAD) software called AutoCAD. And then the mechanical strengths of the traditional GSMTJs and the improved GSMTJs were compared and analyzed using the experimentally validated finite element method (FEM) based on the computer aided engineering (CAE) software called ABAQUS. Finally, the GSMTJs were further investigated from perspective of manufacturing efficiency using the computer aided manufacturing (CAM) software called JDSoft SurfMill. Based on the above simulation analysis, the improved GSMTJ was validated to be equivalent strength, high manufacturing efficiency increasing by 11.5%, low processing load ratio decreasing by 30%, as well as less wood material cost reducing by 3.6% compared with the traditional GSMTJ. The proposed improved GSMTJ was validated to be more suitable to modern wood processing machines. In addition, the methodology of combining the CAD, CAE, and CAM to wood products design was proofed efficient, economic, and feasible, and can be also used in design of other products.