Study on Sustainable Lightweight Design of Airport Waiting Chair Frame Structure Based on ANSYS Workbench

Abstract

The airport waiting chair frames, as an important part of the overall seating, must be designed to provide comfort, safety, and aesthetic appeal. While the airport furniture industry has made progress in terms of sustainability, more efforts are needed to improve material selection, manufacturing processes, and supply chain management to support the development of sustainable furniture. This study proposes innovative ideas for the lightweight design of the frame, based on the limitations of the existing design. Firstly, structural innovations are discussed, non-traditional mesh panels and curved rounded designs are discussed, and non-introduced mesh panels and curved designs are used to enhance the strength and stability of airport waiting chairs and enhance their overall performance. Secondly, innovations in lightweighting have focused on adjusting the thickness dimensions to enhance comfort, material utilization, and sustainability as well as to achieve a lightweight and thin appearance effect. In order to determine the optimal ranges of values for the thickness of the seat surface support strip (P5), the thickness of the backrest strip (P3), and the thickness of the seat panel (P1), nine groups of chairs with different frame sizes were tested using an orthogonal experimental method. Based on the experimental results for size and topology optimization, NX2312 software modeling will be imported into ANSYS Workbench for static analysis. Using the optimized results, the use of 2.842 kg of steel was successfully reduced by 34.8% to ensure the seat’s stability. This provides a reference and idea for the digital and standardized innovative design of airport waiting chair furniture structure in the future. Through digital design and lightweight optimization, material savings and effective use of resources can be achieved, promoting the goal of sustainable development.