Flat-Crush Failure Mechanism of Corrugated Fiberboard

This paper analyzes the behavior of corrugated fiberboard under flatcrush loading using the elastica theory. The analysis is useful for evluating the quality of the board as well as for studying its damping characteristics. We considered the linerboard facings as rigid plates, compressing the fluted corrugating medium between them. The flute is composed of linear and circular elements. We used a procedure of reduced geometry to account for the flattening of the flute in conformation with the liner-boards during compression. Analytical results for A-flute fiberboard reveal that in the load-displacement curve reported in the literature the first hump occurs when the curvature of the flute tip disappears and the second hump occurs when the ultimate compressive and tensile stresses are reached at the intersection of the curved and flattened portions of the flute.