Investigation of the Effect of Pallet Top-Deck Stiffness on Corrugated Box Compression Strength as a Function of Multiple Unit Load Design Variables

Unit loads consisting of a pallet, packages, and a product securement system are the dominant way of shipping products across the United States. The most common packaging types used in unit loads are corrugated boxes. Due to the great stresses created during unit load stacking, accurately predicting the compression strength of corrugated boxes is critical to preventing unit load failure. Although many variables affect the compression strength of corrugated boxes, recently, it was found that changing the pallet’s top deck stiffness can significantly affect compression strength. However, there is still a lack of understanding of how these different factors influence this phenomenon. This study investigated the effect of pallet’s top-deck stiffness on corrugated box compression strength as a function of initial top deck thickness, pallet wood species, box size, and board grade. The amount of increase in top deck thickness needed to lower the board grade of corrugated boxes by one level from the initial unit load scenario was determined using PDS™. The benefits of increasing top deck thickness diminish as the initial top deck thickness increases due to less severe pallet deflection from the start. The benefits were more pronounced as higher board grade boxes were initially used, and as smaller-sized boxes were used due to the heavier weights of these unit loads. Therefore, supposing that a company uses lower stiffness pallets or heavy corrugated boxes for their unit loads, this study suggests that they will find more opportunities to optimize their unit loads by increasing their pallet’s top deck thickness.