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Design of Silos: ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa

This document discusses the design of silos and bunkers used for storing granular materials. Silos have deeper bins compared to bunkers, which leads to differences in how the stored material behaves and distributes pressure. Concrete is commonly used as the structure material since it is durable and resistant to hazards like buckling. Failures have shown pressures during withdrawal can be higher or lower than at rest, so overpressures and underpressures must be considered. Design equations are provided to calculate vertical pressure, horizontal pressure, and friction based on factors like material weight and coefficients. Hopper pressures are also calculated using depth and angle. Overpressure factors above 1.0 must be applied to initial filling pressures to account for imperfections.

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185 views6 pages

Design of Silos: ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa

This document discusses the design of silos and bunkers used for storing granular materials. Silos have deeper bins compared to bunkers, which leads to differences in how the stored material behaves and distributes pressure. Concrete is commonly used as the structure material since it is durable and resistant to hazards like buckling. Failures have shown pressures during withdrawal can be higher or lower than at rest, so overpressures and underpressures must be considered. Design equations are provided to calculate vertical pressure, horizontal pressure, and friction based on factors like material weight and coefficients. Hopper pressures are also calculated using depth and angle. Overpressure factors above 1.0 must be applied to initial filling pressures to account for imperfections.

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sami stel
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Design of Silos

Introduction

Silos and bunkers are usually used for storing granular materials. Silo ( also called deep bins)
and bunkers (shallow bins). The important difference between the two is in the behavior of
the stored material. This behavior difference is influenced by both bin geometry and
characteristics of stored material. Material pressure against the walls and bottom
are usually determined by one method for silos and by another for bunkers.

Silos and bunkers are made from many different structure materials. Concrete is the most
frequently used materials. Concrete can offer the necessary protection to the stored materials,
requires little maintenance, is aesthetically pleasing, and is relatively free of certain structural
hazards (such as buckling) that may be present in silos and bunkers of thinner materials.
Silos failures have alerted design engineers to the danger of designing silos for only
static pressures due to stored material at rest. Those failures have inspired wide-spread
research into the variations of pressures and flow of materials. The research thus far has
established beyond doubt that pressures during withdrawal may be significantly higher or
significantly lower than those present when the material is at rest. The excess (above static
pressure) is called “overpressure” and the shortfall is called “underpressure.” One of the
causes of overpressure is the switch from active to passive conditions which occurs
during material withdrawal. While overpressures and underpressures are generally
important in deeper silos, impact is usually critical only for shallow ones (bunkers) in
which large volumes are dumped suddenly. Obviously, to design with disregard for either
overpressure, underpressure or impact could be dangerous.

A “hopper” is the sloping, walled portion at the bottom of a silo.

ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa Page 1


Loads

γR 
= 1 − e − µ kY / R 
'
Vertical Pressure q (Janssen Formula)
µk
'  
Where
γ = weight per unit volume for stored material
µ` = coefficient of friction between stored material and wall or hopper surface
φ = Angle of internal friction
k = 1 − sin φ
R = is the hydraulic radius (ratio of area to perimeter) of horizontal cross section of storage space
• For Circular silos R=D/4
• For polygonal silos R=D/4 for a circular shape of
equivalent area.

Horizontal Pressure p = kq
Vertical friction per unit length of wall perimeter =
V (γY −q )R
Note:
γ, k vary, the following combinations shall be used with maximum:
(1) Minimum µ`and minimum k for maximum vertical pressure q.
(2) Minimum µ`and maximum k for maximum lateral pressure p.
(3) Maximum µ`and maximum k for maximum vertical friction force V.

Load Factors
The weight of and pressures due to stored material shall be considered as live load.
.

ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa Page 2


Pressures and loads for hoppers
The initial vertical pressure at depth h y
q=
y q0 + γ hy
where q o is the initial vertical pressure at the top of the hopper.

The initial pressure normal to the hopper surface at depth h y below top of hopper shall be the
larger of:

q y tan θ
p= and V= p n tan φ '
tan θ + tan φ '
n n

or
pn = q y ( sin 2 θ + k cos 2 θ ) and q y (1 − k ) sin θ ⋅ cos θ
Vn =

ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa Page 3


Overpressure c d
During initial filling and during discharge, even when both are concentric, overpressures
occur because of imperfections in the cylindrical shape of the silo, non-uniformity in the
distribution of particle sizes, and convergence at the top of hoppers or in flow channels. A
minimum overpressure factor of 1.5 is recommended for concentric flow silos even when they
are of a mass flow configuration. The recommended factor recognizes that even though higher
and lower point pressures are measured in full size silos, they are distributed vertically
through the stiffness of the silo wall and can be averaged over larger areas for structural

ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa Page 5


design. The 1.5 overpressure factor is in addition to the load factor of 1.7 required.

design pressure = 1.7 x cd x initial filling pressure.

The following Table shows the different Cd factors at different depth zones

ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa Page 6


ENGC6353 Dr. Mohammed Arafa Page 21

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