Dropping impact experiment of crisp pears and contact pressure analysis

ABSTRACT

Efforts have been made to streamline the abstract as follows. If further changes are made we are concerned that the integrity of the content may be compromised. We hope you will understand. This study aimed to investigate the impact damage experienced by Pucheng crisp pears during various stages, including harvest, transportation, and processing. Drop impact tests were conducted on pears, considering drop height and collision contact material as factors influencing damage. The bruise area was used as an indicator for damage evaluation. Additionally, the pressure-sensitive film technique was employed to measure the contact stress distribution characteristics of Pucheng crisp pears after the drop impact. The relationship between contact stress distribution and damage area was examined, and the stress area range close to the damage area was determined. The results revealed that the damage area of pears increased linearly with the increasing drop height. Among the four contact materials, foam board exhibited the best cushioning properties, with a maximum safe drop height of 20 cm. The pressure distribution tended to follow a normal distribution, with a pressure range of 0.2-0.3 MPa covering the largest area, corresponding to the majority of the bruise area on the pears. Furthermore, the pressure area and average pressure were found to be related to the severity of bruising. When pears were dropped onto steel, rubber plate and corrugated board, for the former two the stress area exceeding 0.2 MPa closely approximated the damage area, with an average relative error of 7.2%. For the latter, the closest range was above 0.3 MPa, with an average relative error of 3.6%. However, when dropped onto foam board, the average relative error was 75%. This research provides valuable insights for designing packaging tools to minimize damage and serves as a theoretical basis for predicting and assessing pear bruise area using finite element analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Pear
• drop impact
• bruise area
• contact stress
• bruising predication

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32102026), the Key Research Development Program of Shaanxi Province, China (2023-YBNY-159) and Xi'an Agricultural Technology R&D Project (22NYYF050).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32102026), the Key Research Development Program of Shaanxi Province, China (2023-YBNY-159) and Xi'an Agricultural Technology R&D Project (22NYYF050).