A model to predict damage to horticultural produce duringtransport

Abstract A model of the road-vehicle-load system has been developed to enable prediction ofmechanical damage in loads of horticultural produce during transport. The elements of the system are the road profile, the tyres, suspension and chassis of the vehicle and the produce, packaging and cushioning which constitute the load. The model used a force-characteristic description of the vehicle and load elements to calculate the energy absorbed by the produce. The energy absorbed in turn was used to calculate physical damage to the produce, in this case bruise volumes in apples. The model was simulated on an IBM compatible 386 PC. A predictor—corrector numerical solution technique was adopted. A parametric study, in which bruise volumes were predicted for apples transported in bulkbins at different locations on a hypothetical truck, traversing bumps over a range of velocities, showed that the model gave results in accord with practice. It may be concluded that this approach to predicting damage during transport has considerable potential.