The study dealt with the experimental and numerical assessment of the apple cultivar Golden Delicious (Malus domestica L.) at compressive loading in lateral direction. The development of fruit hemisphere behaviour was examined between two parallel plates. Apple samples were subjected to tests at different strain rates. The experiments were conducted at eleven velocities from 10 to 350 mm·min−1 for the purposes of achieving different strain rates. Compression tests of the fruits at different strain rates corresponded to the quasi-state loading. Impacts of loading rate and strain rate on force and stress at compression were studied. The material exhibited nonlinear behaviour of dependency of stresses on strains, but linear viscoelastic behaviour of dependency of stresses on strain rate. The application possibilities of Kelvin-Voight viscoelastic model were evaluated. Forces, strains, stresses and the apparent moduli of elasticity were evaluated for the detection of fruit damage at different strain rates.
