Comparison of Postbuckling Model and Finite Element Model with Compression Strength of Corrugated Boxes

摘要

Conventional compression strength formulas for corrugated fiberboard boxes are limited to geometry and material that produce an elastic postbuckling failure. Inelastic postbuckling can occur in squatty boxes and trays, but a mechanistic rationale for unifying observed strength data is lacking. This study employs a finite element model, instead of actual experiments, to generate experimentally designed data and a smoothed model. Results lead to a better understanding of how to unify elastic and inelastic failure data and form a more general box strength formula. The objective of this study is to determine if the postbuckling formula advocated in a previous review of some historical data on box compression, including subsets of elastic and inelastic buckling, is supported by more pertinent experiments and can thus constitute a mechanistically rational more general box compression formula. The review revealed that a combination of elastic and inelastic postbuckling theory can be universally applied to the data, with different constants for each data source, provided that nonlinear material characterization is introduced and that an empirical correction is applied to panel stiffness.