Development of a Modular Metal Pallet for Transportation and Stationary Conditions: Numerical Analyses and Experimental Characterizations

Due to the massive number of products transported every day, the use of lightweight pallets made of recyclable materials, easy to clean, resistant and cheap should be ideal. In this paper, new modular metal pallets that combine blocks and deck boards to produce different configurations for use in transportation/stationary conditions are proposed. Due to the lack of specific codes to design this structure, a more complete structural analysis (analytical and numerical) to evaluate stresses and deformations has been carried out. Then, laboratory experimental tests were performed to validate the model. A comparative life cycle analysis (LCA) was also carried out to identify the main environmental impacts with respect the wood/plastic/aluminium pallets. Numerical and experimental results provided new ultimate loadings between about 10.0–100.0 kN with a maximum deformation of about 35.0 mm. This indicates that steel pallets perform satisfactorily in terms of resistance and stiffness. Results from LCA suggested that steel pallets perform better than their wood, plastic, and aluminium pallets, mainly due to high recyclability and less need of repairing. Therefore, for a specific analysis of metal pallets, the values and procedures provided in the current codes should be updated. Because the different demands of dimensions and weight, the development of modular pallets could be a good choice to fulfil the functional requirements for several industries.