Quasi‐static and Impact Responses of Multi‐layered Corrugated Paperboard Cushion by Virtual Mass Method

Quasi‐static compressive and impact behaviours of multi‐layered corrugated paperboard (MLCP) cushioning structure were analysed by a recently proposed virtual mass method. First, virtual mass method was applied and verified analytically to solve quasi‐static compressive responses for representative two‐layer corrugated paperboard cushioning structure. The results show that the two layers in the cushioning structure reach the buckling state in chronological order because of the existence of the small perturbations triggered by inertial force related to virtual mass, which leads to the two typical stress peaks in stress–strain curves. Second, the quasi‐static compressive behaviours of MLCP cushioning structure were further studied numerically, showing that the buckling order of multi‐layer cushioning structure depends on virtual mass, but the stress–strain curves remain unchanged when the virtual mass is smaller than some certain value. Finally, quasi‐static and dynamic impact tests of MLCP cushioning structure composed of C‐flute corrugated paperboard were carried out to further validate the capacity of the virtual mass method to describe layer‐wise collapse mechanism given the constitutive relationship of the monolayer corrugated paperboard. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.