Thesis project: Stress distribution in mechanical dampers IKEA of Sweden AB, Älmhult

IKEA of Sweden, or IoS, is responsible for developing the IKEA range and making it available to stores and customers all over the world. IoS is based in Älmhult – the heart of IKEA and the centre of IKEA range development. Expressed in terms of IKEAs three main processes, IoS leads the processes Creating the Home Furnishings Offer and Supplying. IoS also takes part in the third main process, called Communicating & Selling, which is lead by Retail.


A common material that gives comfort in sofas, sofa beds and mattresses is polyurethane foam. Polyurethane foam has excellent comfort properties and durability.

IKEA wants to investigate other ways of building comfort. One possibility can be to use other structures rather than a foam block to give damping and elasticity. There are several suggestions of alternative dampers such as cylinders, balls etc. These dampers can also be described as foam springs. However, if the cross-section decreases, when compared to foam block, the risk of critical stress concentrations increase. If the stress in the material becomes too high, the mechanical properties will rapidly deteriorate and the durability will decrease. High stress concentrations can also lead to irreversible deformation, which will “sag” the construction.

The durability is hard to estimate and to produce a whole construction and then test the durability is a non-effective and costly option. We want to investigate if it is possible to aid the product development with stress distribution simulations.

We are looking for two students that during 20 weeks works with this thesis project.
You will be searching in literature and existing research to find alternative constructions of dampers. You will choose a number of dampers and perform stress simulations, then try to rank different solutions in respect to long term durability. If time allows it, compare the simulations with real tests.

We are looking for two students with knowledge in mechanical analysis and also experience from simulation tools. The comprised time is 20 weeks and if it’s possible we would like you to start as soon as possible, but latest start September.

It is important to know that the support from IKEA of Sweden regarding stress simulations is limited. The students must have a supervisor at the university with this knowledge and the time to support the project.



Application deadline: 2010-06-27

If you have any questions regarding the thesis assignment, please contact Peter Möller at 0476- 5861 55.
For questions regarding the recruitment process, please contact our HR Service Centre at 0476-58 75 00.

We look forward to receiving your application!