FEA Simulation for a bread crate

[LuisEMonge]

Hello everyone,

I’m seeking some guidance on the best approach to simulating (FEA) a bread crate made of polypropylene. The crate is designed to hold a maximum load of approximately 7 kg (~70 N).

In my current setup, I have fixed the bottom of the crate to represent it resting on a dolly for easier transport. We are also planning to stack around 10 crates in total. My intention is to begin with the simulation of a single crate before moving on to the full stacked assembly.

My main question is regarding how to correctly model the load distribution. The load will be spread across the square area of the crate where the loaves will be placed, but so far I’ve only managed to apply point loads in my simulation.

I’ve attached a screenshot of the crate for reference. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Trying to do an FEA on a honey comb part in Inventor can be challenging. It is because the repeated structure has very thin wall thickness and there are many holes. I suggest you derive the part into another part. Bisect the crate so that only a quarter of the body remains. Add the equivalent loads and constraints. It may help give you a ballpark figure.

Many thanks!

[LuisEMonge]

Hi @johnsonshiue Thanks for the advice, I will try to simplify the model as much as I can and let see what happen. 

[SharkDesign · Accepted solution]

I'm unsure why you need to simulate the 'honeycomb' bit, the bread weighs almost nothing.

Shouldn't you be simulating the top edge of the basket which is taking the weight of 9 crates above it?

[LuisEMonge]

Yes, exactly right, I just wanted to know what the displacement was going to be and was basically no displacement (around 0.5 mm), now I'm working on simulate the whole stack as 1 single force applied to the 4 corners of the bottom crate.

Let see how this goes. 

[LuisEMonge]

Thanks for your help, I finished the simulation yesterday night and everything went well. I ended up simulating just the bottom crate with a distributed working load over the edges and the contact surfaces between 2 crates. My results were in displacement less than 0.7mm and a maximum stress of 11.4 MPa, and a FOS of 3.58.