Application of beam on elastic foundation to the interaction between a corrugated box and pallet deckboard. Issue 5 (9th August 2017) - Baker, Matthew
Abstract : Corrugated boxes are ubiquitous in shipping and warehousing logistics. In physical distribution, corrugated boxes are often shipped in a unit load form where the interaction between the components determines the effectiveness and safety of the overall system. When lower stiffness pallets are used to support the corrugated boxes, the compression strength of boxes is reduced due to the uneven support conditions caused by the deforming top deckboards of the pallet. In this study, a modification of the principle of beam on elastic foundation was used to predict the effect of pallet deck stiffness on the performance of a corrugated box. In the model, the corrugated box acts as the elastic foundation, and the deckboard is represented as the beam. Pallet deck stiffness, pallet connection stiffness, and package stiffness are required model inputs. The resulting model was capable of predicting the normalized distribution of forces along the boxes' length sidewall but was not capable of predicting the compression strength of the box at failure. Abstract : In this study, a modification of the principle of beam on elastic foundation was used to predict the effect of pallet deck stiffness on the performance of a corrugated box. In the model, the corrugated box acts as the elastic foundation and the deckboard is represented as the beam. The resulting model accurately predicted the normalized distribution of forces along the boxes' length sidewall but was not capable of predicting the compression strength of the box at failure.