Abstract

Wood pallets are increasingly stored in warehouses with drive-in or drive-through racks. A pallet needs adequate stiffness and strength to function safely under conditions where it spans the rack support rails. When the stringers run parallel to the supports, the fasteners reinforce the deckboard load-carrying ability. This report experimentally determines the effect of fasteners on pallet performance. The effect is characterized in terms of the ratio of the joint rotation modulus to a normalized deckboard bending stiffness. This approach enables the joints to be compared with pinned and rigid joints in a pallet stiffness and strength theory.

References

1.
Urbanik
,
T. J.
, “
Deckboard Bending Theory for Three-Stringer Wood Pallets in Drive-In Racks
,”
Journal of Testing and Evaluation
 0090-3973, Vol.
13
, No.
1
,
01
1985
, pp.
3
-
8
.
2.
Mack
,
J. J.
, “
Contribution of Behavior of Deckboard-Stringer Joints to Pallet Performance—A Pilot Study
,” Bulletin 136,
Wood Research and Wood Construction Laboratory, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
,
Blacksburg, VA
,
05
1975
.
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