pressure on steel silo wall

[JP123]

Hi, I would like to know how to calculate the pressure on a steel silo wall created by dry grain. The floor of the silo is flat and made of concrete.

Thanks for help!

 

[DaveAtkins]

The grain will cause ring tension. The formula can be found in the Handbook for Structural Engineers, or you can model the silo on a computer. As I recall, a computer model may give you conservative results compared to the Handbook.

DaveAtkins

 

[hokie66]

JP123,

There have been a lot of collapses of steel grain silos. It is sobering to read some of the reports of collapses you can read just by googling "grain silo collapse".

Some collapses have been attributed to buckling of the walls, as friction causes the walls to support some of the grain in compression. Variation of temperature in the silo is also an issue.

This is something of a specialist design area, so I would encourage you to get appropriate advice, which may not be available on this site.

 

[Ussuri]

If the grain has not been placed on the level (ie if its banked up on one side) then you will not have pure hoop tension. You may need to check this to see if it is an issue. Possibly not.