How are weight limits on chairs and other things tested?
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I work for a large furniture manufacturer in North America and am involved with the design and testing of various types of furniture daily. I can weigh in on the furniture side.
For a stationary piece like a sofa or chair (no recliners), there are a series of tests that stress the wood framing like pulling on the arm or back, or dropping weights into the seat, evaluating the stability, etc. These are all standardized with static and cyclic loads and times. There are various regulatory agencies that develop these methods like BIFMA, UL, CSA, etc. They explain exactly how to setup and perform each of the tests.
99.9% of the time, there is no FEA/Simulation performed on these units prior to building and testing them. At my company, the designers for these are not trained in a engineering background, and instead are equally as knowledgeable based on years of experience designing, building, and testing similar frames. It is faster for them to spend an hour building a new frame rather than performing a simulation on every joint. Most frame connections are reused from existing designs, with the exterior profile of the frame changing to represent a different shape.
Motion furniture is tested in a similar fashion but the motion mechanisms underneath would have a much more rigorous evaluation process prior to building and testing, including FEA/Simulation. The designers in this group are trained in an engineering background. To think of it in a time perspective, the designers for the framing might develop a new frame every few weeks, while the motion mechanism would be developed over 1-2 years.
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