Drop test of pear fruit: Experimental measurement and finite element modelling

•Bruised area of pear fruit was measured and modelled by finite element method.•Bruised area increased with increasing of dropping height and ripening level.•Bruised area of the fruit falling onto steel was higher than that onto wood.•Minimum and maximum errors for predicting bruised area were 0.003 and −60.530%.

Pear fruit has a soft tissue that must be protected against mechanical bruises. In this paper, the bruised area of pear fruit was determined by experimental dropping tests and then was predicted by the Finite Element Method (FEM). Three dropping heights (200, 500 and 1000 mm), two impact surfaces (steel and wood) and two fruit orientations (vertical and horizontal) were studied. In order to simulate the fruit in the ANSYS 14 software, volume, density and elasticity modulus of unripe, ripe and overripe fruits were determined experimentally using standard methods. The minimum bruised area was occurred for unripe pear falling on the wood surface at vertical orientation and 200 mm dropping height whereas the maximum value was obtained for overripe pear falling on the steel surface at horizontal orientation and 1000 mm dropping height. The minimum and maximum error for prediction of bruised area by finite element modelling was 0.00 and −60.50%, respectively.