Study of a Procedure for Unit Load Transport Simulation

Accurate transport simulation is necessary to determine the probability that a unitary load might be disassembled or subject to severe structural changes while travelling to its destination. With the evaluations that come from accurate transport simulation companies might be able, for example, to optimize for the amount of plastic to use in the wrapping process of a unitary load. Other than the obvious immense cost reduction given by a lower incidence of product-ruining accidents during transport, optimizing plastic usage would also help avoid over-wrapping, resulting in better environmental outcomes. Currently, multi-axial simulation is more and more being adopted by companies in the hopes of representing more closely the stresses a load is subject to during transport. However, there is no international standard outlining a procedure that one might follow in order to do so, yet. This work starts from the identification of the best methods to record simulation-oriented transport data precisely and reliably. Some recordings of different types of transport have been conducted to highlight their different nature and to show an example of how to use a sensor in different contexts. Then, the main existing methods for simulating transport are analyzed and used to create a new procedure for the selection of the most suitable one, mainly depending on the availability of technological resources and transport data. Lastly, considerations about possible future improvements on this work are presented.