askralph

Rodrigo asks;

I’m trying to figure out the stacking strength of the partitions shown in the picture (How much weight can be held on top). A corrugated board bed is set on top covering all of it. Products are located inside the 4 cells of the partition. I would like to know what is the process or logic of calculating the maximum weight it can hold before it collapses. Resistance used is 26 ECT.

If I see correctly the pieces are set at an angle so we cannot determine compression strength because the elements are not fully vertical. (left-most sections in the image)  What is more significant here is the torsion or flexing of the components. Because of the distance between connecting points, failure is more likely to come from the twisting action of the components than an edge-wise crush. It’s just like a vehicle traveling over a rough road and all four wheels and suspension act independently of each other.  If the pallet of the load is uneven or starts to shift, then angular forces can be applied potentially causing the long spans to flex and collapse.

We can’t tell exactly how large your partition assembly is, but do you have access to a compression tester with a footprint large enough to test at least one square?

— Ralph

UPDATE:

Tom adds,

Consider pointing Rodrigo to the book Corrugated Shipping Containers An Engineering Approach by George G. Maltenfort. Chapter 7 of the book discusses compression strength estimation for boxes with inserts and shows 25 different styles. These are not the partition shown in your question but MIGHT give him a place to start your predictive work or at least highlight attributes he needs to consider.

Thanks Tom!

Tags: corrugated partitions, ECT, testing

This entry was posted on February 28, 2019 at 4:52 pm and is filed under Containerboard, Design and Structure, Testing and Specifications. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.