Abstract
Nonlinear behavior of granular materials stored in steel silos subjected to dynamic base excitation due to earthquake is presented in the current article. Three-dimensional finite element (FE) modeling of the granular material silo is carried out under three-directional earthquake ground acceleration time histories. Granular material is modeled by adopting a continuum approach. The nonlinearity of the granular materials is represented by a hypoplastic material law in the FE approximation. The interface between the granular material and the silo wall is modeled by using surface-to-surface based contact formulation. The horizontal and vertical displacements of the granular material under earthquake ground acceleration at various depths of the silo are studied. Moreover, the stresses induced in the steel silo are also investigated. The static FE simulation and the analytical solution obtained by using Janssen's theory are observed to be in close agreement. Also, the dynamic FE simulations compare with the calculated results using Eurocode 8 part 4 with reasonable accuracy. The stresses in the steel silo wall are higher for loose packing of the granular material as compared to that for the dense packing.
Published Version
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