Effect of wooden pallets characteristics on the compression strength of palletized plastic pails

Palletized unit loads are composed of pallets, packages, and unit load stabilizers. The interactions between components are significant for designing efficient and sustainable pallets. Although there has been research on corrugated boxes, there is no research revolving around plastic pails. The objective of this study was to understand how plastic pails are affected by the pallet's top deckboard thickness and the effect of the pail's location on the pallet. The first phase of testing investigated the pail location effect in five different locations on a small-scale pallet segment. The second phase further investigated the two locations that had the best and worst performances in terms of pail strength. One additional location was chosen based on a previous study on corrugated boxes. It was found that the pallet's top deckboard thickness and the location of the pail both had significant impacts on pail deformation, pallet deflection, and pail compression strength. This study also indicated that symmetrical and asymmetrical loading created different trends when comparing pail deformation, pallet deformation, and pail compression strength. It was found that the thickness of the deckboards is relevant when investigating pail failure but the experiments were unable to find a consistent trend between pallet deflection and pail failure load. These factors can all be taken into account by unit load designers in order to create safe and sustainable pallets.