Mechanical Damage Prediction of Crystal Guava (Psidium Guajava L.) Fruit Flesh Using Finite Element Modeling Darmanto*, Muhammad Fahrur Rozi
Biosystem Engineering Department, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, Universitas Brawijaya
Jalan Veteran, Malang, East Java, 65145, Indonesia
*Email: darmanto_sm[at]ub.ac.id
Abstract
The post-harvest handling process of Crystal Guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit has a high potential for mechanical damage. This mechanical damage will cause a decrease in the quality of the fruit which will accelerate the decay process. This study aims to predict the distribution of mechanical damage in the flesh of Crystal Guava fruit that experiences mechanical loads. The research procedure began with determining Young^s modulus or elasticity and Poisson^s ratio of Crystal Guava. Second, conducting a drop test and third conducting a simulation on finite element-based software. The average Young^s modulus, E = 2,605 Mpa, Poisson^s ratio, v = 0.2664. The tested guava has a mass of 0.16 kg. In the 1 m drop test, the stress on the guava recorded 0.11 Mpa. The highest stress was located at the bottom of the guava that dropped in a vertical position, namely the area that is in direct contact with the cement floor, amounting to 1.11.10^5 Pa or 0.11 Mpa. This value is almost the same as the yield stress, sigma-y, and the ultimate stress, sigma-u, in the compression test, which are 0.12 Mpa and 0.208 Mpa, respectively.
