Horizontal bulk material pressure in silo subjected to impulsive load

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Tatko, Radosław | Kobielak, Sylwester

Affiliations: The Faculty of Environmental Engineering and Geodesy, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, pl. Grunwaldzki 24, 50-363 Wroclaw, Poland | Institute of Building Engineering, Wroclaw University of Technology, Wybrzeze Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland

Note: [] Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 71 320 55 29; Fax: +48 71 320 55 84

Abstract: This paper describes laboratory tests carried out in the steel flat-bottomed silo model filled with sand, subjected to external dynamic loads. The model was placed on a system of springs, which represent subsoil. The loads in the form of horizontal impulses were applied to the bottom plate of the silo. Horizontal pressure-time courses were used to analyze the influence of subsoil vibrations on the distribution changes of these pressures. Basic conclusion: (1) the subsoil vibrations cause two types of changes of the horizontal pressures: stable changes which are observed when the model vibrations finish and cyclic of short duration (brief) changes; (2) the subsoil vibrations either generate stable increase or stable decrease of the pressures from before vibrations or do not generate any essential stable change; (3) the cyclic dynamic changes of the horizontal pressures depend on the direction of the silo wall displacements and they are the function of the values of these displacements.

Keywords: Silo model test, granular material, dynamic pressure measurement, vibration

Journal: Shock and Vibration, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 543-550, 2008