Mechanics characteristics and finite element analysis of watermelon

The mechanics characteristic of watermelon is important to decrease loss during storage and transportation and it is also important to design related machinery. Based on the compressing experiment on the ripe watermelon, the compressing characteristics of watermelon were analyzed in different loaded ways. Furthermore, the elastic modulus of watermelon acquired were 9.45×105 Pa and 8.50×105 Pa corresponding to vertical and horizontal compression. Mechanical model of compressing watermelon was established by the finite element method, and the horizontal compression experiment results and finite element solutions of watermelon were compared, which shows that the maximal difference between them is 10%. At last, the characteristics of carrying compressing capacity in vertical and horizontal compression of watermelon were studied, and the simulation numerical solution was confirmed by comparing with the experiment data. It can be concluded that strain and stress while watermelon stem placed vertically are less than that horizontally under the same pressure. The study can provide the theoretical basis for storing, transporting processing of watermelon and so on.