Abstract:
Generally, food cans are subjected to three main loading conditions, i.e., vacuum pressure in
packaging process, internal pressure from high temperature in sterilization and compressive axial
load from stacking and transportation. Food cans are mostly designed to be corrugated so as to
endure high pressures exposed to the cans during manufacturing processes. Nonetheless, prediction
of failure behaviors and analytical solutions of loading capacity of corrugated food cans are highly
intricate. Therefore, Finite Element Method (FEM) is performed to design the proper dimensions
and the configuration of the corrugation. In the present work, a commercial food can of the size
603x700 is chosen to be preliminarily examined in order to compare the buckling loads and failure
behaviors from physical testing with the results from FEM obtained by using a commercial program
ABAQUS. The results are shown to be in good agreement. Therefore, The FEM technique are then
applied to investigate the effects of changing parameters to loading capacity of the food can. The
parameters include corrugation spacing, depth of corrugation, thickness of the body of the food can,
radius of corrugation and thickness of the can lid. Results from the study are applied with
optimization technique by FEM to determine the appropriate dimensions and shape of the food can
for its loading conditions leading to reduction of material thickness as well as the production cost.
The optimization technique by using FEM and benefits from revision of the chosen can could be
used as a basis for designing food cans under various loading conditions.