Granular Matter 6, 185190

c Springer-Verlag 2004
Structural analysis of RC circular grouped silos
under patch actions
Andrzej Lapko, Jolanta A. Prusiel
Abstract The actions and assumptions for structural
analysis of reinforced concrete grouped silos (called also
silo batteries) are not precisely specied in technical ref-
erences and relevant standards of design. The internal
forces appearing in the cross-sections of cylindrical silo
battery walls due to silo pressure may be evaluated by
superposition of symmetrical actions and free patch load
representing accidental asymmetries of pressure. The pa-
per deals with the numerical analysis of sectional forces
and moments in R C cylindrical silo battery subjected to
silo pressure and patch load, taking into account a silo
bin model that includes the interaction between the wall
structure and stored particulate solid.
Keywords Silo battery, Reinforced concrete, Structural
analysis, Bulk solid, Patch load
1 silo wall in the form of twin outward loads distributed at
Introduction
In spite of the fact that there are a great number of
reinforced grouped silos (in the form of silo batteries),
the principles determining loads on such structures and
requirements for their structural analysis are not precisely
specied in relevant codes of design. The static eects of
actions on free standing cylindrical silo due to particulate
solid pressure should be evaluated by the superposition
of both xed symmetrical load and free load (also called
patch load) representing accidental asymmetries of pres-
sure, as it is required in many national silo codes and
also in a recent draft of silo Eurocode prEN 1991-4:2003
[1]. Structural analysis of a silo battery should take into
account not only an appropriate model of actions but also
real behavioural model of mutually connected cylindrical
silo bins.
Received: 1 August 2003
A. Lapko (&), J. A. Prusiel
Department of Civil Engineering,
Bialystok Technical University,
15-351 Bialystok, Poland
e-mail: lapko@pb.bialystok.pl
Tel.: (+48-85) 746 96 00
Fax: (+48-85) 746 95 59
This paper has been prepared at Bialystok Technical Univer-
sity within the framework of research projects sponsored by the
Polish Committee for Scientic Research (KBN). The authors
acknowledge the nancial support for this paper.
DOI 10.1007/s10035-004-0172-z
This paper deals with the numerical FEM analysis of
sectional forces and bending moments in a reinforced con-
crete silo battery composed of 2 2 cylindrical bins sub-
jected to standard pressure of bulk solid, including patch
load approach. In the analysis the numerical FEM model
of cylindrical silo bin was considered taking into account
the interaction between silo wall structure and stored par-
ticulate solid.
2
Concept of patch loads on the wall of silo battery
In slender cylindrical silos the patch load represents acci-
dental local asymmetries of solid pressure associated with
imperfections and eccentricities in the phases of lling
or discharging processes. The concept of patch silo load
was developed for a free standing cylindrical reinforced
concrete silo [2], [3] as free load acting anywhere on the
dened small square zones. In a recent draft of European
Standard [1] this idea for large reinforced concrete thick
walled circular silos of Reliability Class 3 was extended
and completed using an additional inward load, as shown
in Fig. 1a, b, which gives an unchanged global balance of
actions at the silo bin perimeter.
The dimension s of the square area on which the out-
ward load is distributed (see Fig. 1) is dependent on the
characteristic dimension of inside silo section dc
s = dc /16
= 0.2dc (2.1)
The patch load should be considered for lling as well
as for discharging phases. According to the nal draft
of prEN-1991-4 [1] the discharge outward patch load ppe
depends on symmetrical horizontal pressure phe under dis-
charge and geometrical data of the silo bin. It is calculated
from the expression based on the notations given in [1]

 2  
emax 
ppe = 0.42Cop 1 + 8 1 e1.5(hc /dc 1) phe
dc
(2.2)
The symbol Cop in equation (2.2) denotes the patch load
reference factor obtained experimentally for the given
solid, emax is the maximum eccentricity (for lling or dis-
charging phases) and hc is an eective height of silo wall.
The inward patch load ppei under discharging is
imposed on the remaining part of silo wall perimeter (see
Fig. 1a) and in general case can be derived from formula
(2.3) on the basis of the outward patch load value. The
186
Fig. 1. The concept of patch load on cylindrical thick walled
silo according to prEN 19914 [1]: (a) the location of patch
load on silo perimeter, (b) the location of patch load on the
silo bin wall
Fig. 2. Assumptions for determination of patch load
components on cylindrical silo battery: (a) patch load on
multi-chamber silo battery, (b) static eects of patch load
on silo wall section
inward patch load is located on remaining length of silo
wall circumference
ppe
ppei = (2.3)
The coecient for a free standing cylindrical silo bin is
equal to 7. However, for the cylindrical bin in a silo bat-
tery there exist no recommendations for the distribution
of inward patch pressure.
Assuming that the inward patch pressure in a silo bat-
tery can be distributed at the outer sector of the cylinder
exclusively (see Fig. 2a) the coecient can be calcu-
lated from the principle stating that patch loads should
be unchanged over the circumference of a considered outer
part of the silo battery.
Under such assumption the following formula for the
determination of the inward patch pressure coecient
is obtained
  
1 a
= 1.25 b arc tg 1 (2.4)
45 dc
In Eq. (2.4) the dimension a denotes the length of contact
wall sector between the considered and adjacent bins (see
Fig. 2a) and factor b depends on location of the considered
bin in the silo battery: for corner bin b = 3, for inner bin
b = 2.
3
Assumptions for structural analysis of silo battery
3.1
Formulation of numerical FEM approach
Taking into account the concept of the patch load
model described above, structural analyses of verti-
cal silo walled sections are very complex even for
free standing silo bins. Hence, in practical design, the
computations based on classic numerical methods
are widely proposed [3], [4]. The problem becomes
even more complex for the considered arrangements
of cylindrical silo bins. The model of patch load
for this system can be evaluated using equations
(2.2) (2.4). The assumed patch load in the circular wall
sections induces bending moments and is the cause of
redistribution of sectional forces (Fig. 2b).
Discussing the geometrical model of a circular silo
battery we should take into account the real behaviour