Doherty, Riley (2023) Behaviour & Design of Corrugations in Thin-Walled Silos. [USQ Project]
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Abstract
Thin-walled silos commonly store bulk materials such as grain, cement, and chemicals. The flow loads and corrugations in such silos are essential for their design and structural integrity. Flow loads refer to the forces and pressures exerted on the walls of a silo due to the flow of material stored inside. These loads can vary depending on the characteristics of the material (e.g., its density, cohesion, friction), the flow pattern (see Figure 1), and the discharge rate. Corrugations are the vertically oriented ribs or waves often found on the walls of thin-walled silos. These corrugations serve several purposes: structural support, increased wall strength, reduced friction, and aeration. This project aims to investigate the current design of thinwalled silos, develop models that identify stresses of silo walls, and explore potential changes to these designs to reduce and remove undesirable stresses.
The methodology of this project was done by using Strand7. It leverages finite element analysis to assess silo structural behaviour by simulating complex structures. Buckling and collapse load causes will be scrutinised in Strand7, and the stresses causing these failures will be identified and potentially removed. A 2.5m diameter, 6.7m high silo has been developed and shown the stresses that act in the various upper and lower bound flow loads. There have been several different stresses found, including buckling and collapse. This has been found to act locally around the lower section of the silo, most noticeably where the corrugation and the hopper overlap. Revised models are required to see if the potential stresses causing failures in the silos are removable. If they are, possible structural changes can be looked at to see if these stresses can be managed better in these silos.
The conclusions from this project are that thin-walled silos will always have some variety of stresses that will occur at varying stages of their use. Differing bulk solids produce different stresses that can be mitigated by additional structural elements but cannot be removed entirely from the design.
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| Item Type: | USQ Project |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Current – Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Engineering (1 Jan 2022 -) |
| Supervisors: | Karunsena, Karu |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) (Civil) |
| Date Deposited: | 24 Sep 2025 04:12 |
| Last Modified: | 24 Sep 2025 04:12 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | silos; flow loads |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52941 |
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