Behaviour of the peach under underwater shock wave loading

Abstract

The paper concerns with the experimental and numerical study of the peach (Red Haven) at underwater shock wave loading. The behaviour of the peach skin as well as peach stone can be described in terms of elasticity. Following experiments have been performed: tensile testing of the skin (exocarp) specimens at constant elongation at strain rate 0.01 s−1, compression test of the mesocarp specimens at different strain rates corresponding to quasi – static loading, compression test of the mesocarp spe­ci­mens at the high rates of strain (about 1000 s−1), and compression test of the whole peach stone at strain rate corresponding to quasi – static loading. The model of the peach has been suggested. The model is used for the numerical simulation, which was performed on the software LS DYNA 3D finite element code. Pressure wave propagation in the water has been studied and following quantities evaluated: pressure on the peach surface, displacement, and surface velocity. Two different models (Maxwell and Kelvin) have been used. The results of this simulation show some agreement with results of the observation (undamaged peach skin). The numerical simulation also gives an insight on the details of the loading, which was recently tested as a tool of fruit treatment. It has been shown that undewater shock wave treatment of peaches can lead to their softening.

Keywords

• peach
• shock wave loading
• numerical simulation