Investigations of structure strength and ventilation performance for agriproduct corrugated cartons under long‐term transportation trip

Abstract

AbstractLoad‐carrying capability of corrugated cartons packaging fresh agriproducts must be significant enough. Collapse of the carton stacked on the pallet in an environment‐controlled container is commonly observed during the shipping trip. A homogenization approach of the corrugated paperboard is adopted to dramatically reduce the computational time in the present study. A creep model is further implemented into the numerical analysis to describe the stiffness decay of the carton over the relatively long period. A finite element analysis is conducted to investigate the mechanical performance of the carton locating at bottom of the stacked pile. Simulation results show that the carton performs local buckling deformations similar to the experimental observations. The vented carton based on the modified design exhibits rather smaller deformations after the transportation journey. Moreover, the modified design provides better uniformity of ventilation based on the computational fluid dynamics analysis. Current procedure is promising for the selection of liner and fluting that compose the corrugated paperboard and the assessment of the ventilation of cartons in the early design stage.