Case Study: Tetra Pak ensures aseptic packaging integrity with Dassault Systèmes' Abaqus simulation

Tetra Pak - Customer Case Study

Tetra Pak, the world’s largest supplier of aseptic packaging, needed to ensure that extremely thin, laminated carton packages survive the complex filling and sealing process without breaking or crimping. To capture the coupled behavior of cartons, fluid, and packaging machines, Tetra Pak turned to Dassault Systemes and its Abaqus (SIMULIA) finite element analysis software to model the fluid–structure interaction early in the design process.

Dassault Systemes’ Abaqus used a Coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian approach to model the tube, liquid, floater, pressure flange and folding system in a single FEA run (about 220,000 elements / 700,000 variables, ~24 hours on 8–16 processors). The simulation reproduced final package shape, validated the pressure flange’s damping effect, and enabled Tetra Pak to define folding sequencing, material choice, injection rates and tensile loads—reducing reliance on late-stage physical tests, improving understanding of the process, and helping to shorten development time and raise package quality.

Tetra Pak

Mattias Olsson

Manager, Virtual Engineering