Modeling of Coffee Fruit: An Approach to Simulate the Effects of Compression

The flavor, aroma and color of coffee may change due to mechanical damage, reducing its qual-ity. To measure the mechanical response of materials, compression tests can be performed, de-termining the effect of force application on the mechanical behavior of the fruit at different stages of ripeness. In this context, this study aimed to analyze the deformation, strain energy and equivalent von Mises stress of coffee fruits at mature, semi-mature and immature maturation stages and compressed by collapse forces. Compression in three directions (x, y and z) was sim-ulated on coffee fruit models using the finite element method, with a compression support in the direction opposite to the force application axis. The numerical simulation of the compression process allowed to verify that the more mature the fruit, the greater the associated mean defor-mation (2.20 mm mm-1, 0.78 mm mm-1 and 0.88 mm mm-1), the lower the mean strain energy (0.07 mJ, 0.21 mJ and 0. 34 mJ) and the lower the mean equivalent von Mises stress (0.25 MPa, 1.03 MPa and 1.25 MPa), corresponding to ripe, semi-ripe and immature fruits; and these proper-ties may be used to analyze how processes in the production chain affect the amount of mechan-ical damage.