Predicting the effect of pallet overhang on the box compression strength

Abstract

A corrugated box's compression strength can easily be affected by how the box is used, including pallet overhang which reduces a box's effective compression strength (BCT). The specific impact of a given amount of overhang on BCT remains poorly defined. In the current study, a range of box sizes and constructions were examined in over a dozen single‐side overhang configurations and five adjacent‐side overhang scenarios to identify key factors contributing to loss of strength, producing an average reduction in BCT of up to 40%. These results indicated that common safety factors fit well with adjacent overhang scenarios but overestimate single‐side overhang scenarios. We developed a range of multiple linear and nonlinear regression models, estimating the change in a box's compression strength due to overhang compared with a no‐overhang scenario. The impact of overhang on the short and long sides, whether overhang exists on a single side or adjacent side, box size, and board type were all statistically significant. This work also indicates the need for further research refining the first‐order model and extending it to other materials, box sizes, and box aspect ratios.

Estimation of the Compressive Strength of Cardboard Boxes Including Packaging Overhanging on the Pallet

“…The finite element model of packaging with overhanging subjected to column compression used in this paper was validated with reference to the literature outcomes achieved by Kim et al [35]. In that paper, many compression tests were carried out on overhanging packaging for various dimensions of flap boxes (FEFCO code F201) and multiple scenarios of overhanging, i.e., along the short, long and diagonal direction.…”

“…Reference models were prepared, in which the uniform upper and lower boundary conditions were assumed, i.e., without overhanging (for more details, see Section 2.2). Additionally, before the main computations, the validation of the model was performed using the experimental data presented by Kim et al [35]. Details regarding validation are presented in Section 3.1.…”

“…Several corrugated board materials were adopted, which also allowed the board type space to be explored. After successful validation of corrugated materials assumed based on the paper by Kim et al [35], three-and five-layer boards were used in this study. Namely, the boards with fluting types B, C, EB and BC were assumed.…”

“…For this purpose, based on the board specifications in Ref. [35], two similar boards were found and mechanically tested to acquire the material parameters via BSE System [5] for validation. For comparison, please see Table 2.…”

“…In their study, Kim et al [35] presented the results of box compression tests and analyzed various regression models to explore how pallet overhang affects the reduction in effective box compression strength (BCT). Their observations revealed that effective BCT diminishes as the overhang increases, a trend also noted in prior studies.…”