Abstract
Silos generally work as storage structures between supply and demand for various goods, and their structural safety has long been of interest to the civil engineering profession. This is especially true for dynamically loaded silos, e.g., in case of seismic excitation. Particularly thin-walled cylindrical silos are highly vulnerable to seismic induced pressures, which can cause critical buckling phenomena of the silo shell. The analysis of silos can be carried out in two different ways. In the first, the seismic loading is modeled through statically equivalent loads acting on the shell. Alternatively, a time history analysis might be carried out, in which nonlinear phenomena due to the filling as well as the interaction between the shell and the granular material are taken into account. The paper presents a comparison of these approaches. The model used for the nonlinear time history analysis considers the granular material by means of the intergranular strain approach for hypoplasticity theory. The interaction effects between the granular material and the shell is represented by contact elements. Additionally, soil–structure interaction effects are taken into account.
Highlights
Adequate seismic design of silos is especially important in the field of plant engineering since structural damage often leads to consequential damage such as fires, explosions, and the release of toxic substances into the air and soil
Due to seismic excitation silo walls are subjected to additional horizontal seismic actions caused of the mass of the granular material
The increase factors that were calculated on the basis of the equivalent load method result in a 2–3 times higher factor when compared with the simulation of the equivalent load method result in a 2–3 times higher factor when compared with the simulation to exist from the base of the silo up to a defined height
Summary
Adequate seismic design of silos is especially important in the field of plant engineering since structural damage often leads to consequential damage such as fires, explosions, and the release of toxic substances into the air and soil. Past earthquakes have repeatedly caused damage to silos. One of the main causes for damage is buckling on the foot of the wall of the silo as a result of a combination of axial compressive stresses, circumferential tensile stresses and high shear stresses that is referred to as “elephant’s foot buckling” and typically related to steel silos. Slender silos are at risk of tipping over due to high seismic inertial forces when the anchoring or the foundation fails. Silos with substructures are especially at risk of tipping over due to the weight of the silo, which causes the structure to be top-heavy.
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