Effect of Drinking Water Bottle Arrangement to Multi-Pack Vertical Compression Strength under Semi-Confinement Condition

Water bottles are sold in multi-pack of several bottles and shrink-wrapped for handling purposes. When lateral pressure is applied to a multi-pack of bottles, the pack can carry more vertical stacking strength during warehousing and transportation. In this study a rubber exercise band was used to apply lateral pressure to a pack of four 16.9-oz drinking water bottles. Under this semi-confinement condition, the pack stacking strength increased up to 19% for non-interlocking bottle arrangement. However, the lateral pressure decreased the stacking strength for interlocking bottle arrangement due to the non-uniform load-carrying distribution of the four bottles. Failure occurred in the neck and shoulder areas of these bottles. Thus, adding vertical ribs or some patterns in the neck and shoulder areas would increase their compression strength.