3D Finite Element simulation of the wall flexibility in a square silo during

Filling and Discharge

Authors : Dr. Dominique GUINES, Prof. Eric RAGNEAU, PhD. Brahim KEROUR

Affilation : INSA Laboratoire de Mcanique Applique, Automatique et Gomcanique

20 Avenue des Buttes de Cosmes - CS14315
35043 RENNES CEDEX FRANCE.

Email : Dominique.Guines@insa-rennes.fr
Email : Eric.Ragneau@insa-rennes.fr
Email : Brahim.Kerour@insa-rennes.fr

ABSTRACT

The aim of the paper is to propose a full 3D modelisation of the filling and discharging stages
using a non linear finite element method. The bulk material behaviour is based on an elastoplastic
law ; contact elements using a Mohr-Coulomb criterion simulate the interaction between the wall
and the bulk material and the flexibility of the silo structure is modelised with beam and shell
elements. A detailed analysis of the numerical results computed for a square silo filled with
wheat and discharged through a central outlet is presented and discussed.

KEY WORDS : Silos ; Bulk Material ; Wall Flexibility ; Finite Element ;

I INTRODUCTION

Modelling the distributed actions in a silo during various stages (filling, storage, discharging...)
encounters many difficulties related at the same time to :
- the non linear behaviour of ensiled material leading to large deformations and local failure,
- the interaction between the bulk material and the flexible wall,
- the whole behaviour of the silo structure.
Most of the studies which have been published to evaluate stresses on silo walls are based on a
rigid wall assumption. In a 2D silo, the wall flexibility can be approximately modelised by using
a corrective factor applied to the whole pressure distribution. It has been shown (Ooi, 1990) that a
such approach is in agreement with experimental measurements on circular silos. In square or
rectangular silos, numerical simulations based on rigid walls display an horizontal distribution of
the pressures which decreases from the center of the wall to the edge (Sanad, 1997), whereas in
experiments (Jarrett, 1995), the opposite phenomenon is observed. The variation of the wall
stiffness due to vertical or horizontal stiffeners produces also non uniform wall deformations
which are difficult to introduce in a simplified 2D model.

1
The aim of the paper is to discuss about a full 3D F.E. simulation of a real full scale silo taking
account both the non linear bulk properties, and the structural behaviour of the cell including the
contact condition between the bulk material and the wall, the flexibility of the wall, and the
presence of stiffeners and ties. The numerical calculations have been carried out using the
software Castem 2000 (Bohar, 1992). The studied silo is one of the french experimental station of
Chartres (Brozzetti, 1989) filled with wheat of La Saussaye .

II GOVERNING EQUATIONS

II.1 Behaviour of the bulk material

The non linear Hujeuxs model [Hujeux, 1979] is used. The elastic behaviour is characterized by
a tangent bulk modulus KT and a shear one GT :
n n
p p
K T = K ref p ref and GT = G ref p ref
pref p ref
where K ref and G ref and n are 3 parameters defined in Tab. 1 (for wheat) and p ref is the

reference pressure.
The plastic behaviour is partially based on the Cam-Clay model : the same flow fonction G is
adopted, but the yield fonction F can be modified by introducing two plastic constants a and b :
p
G ( p, q ) = F ( p, q, v , q ) = 1 r ( q )
q q p
+ ln p + b ln
p p
and
Mp Mp p ppf

q
( )
p

with : r qp = p + r , (r defines the elastic domain ) ; v and q are the strain-hardening

el el p p

a + q
( )
parameters ; p ppf = p ppo exp v where p ppo characterizes the first yield surface and the
p

plastic modulus of compressibility.

Table 1 gives the values of each parameter for the wheat of La Saussaye . They have been
computed by interpreting laboratory tests (Degoutte, 87).

Kref Gref P ref P pp0 C (KPa) M (Kg/m3) n rel a b

(KPa) (KPa) (KPa) (KPa) Cohesion Bulk
density
35.3 18.2 100 550 3 1.11 850 0.3 0.1 28 0.01 0.9
Table 1 : Parameters of Hujeux model

II.2 Contact element : Mohr-Coulomb model

Interactions between the vertical silo walls and the bulk material are simulated by a contact
element [Beer, 85]. It is defined by an elastic-plastic behaviour. In elastic domain of deformation,
the element is characterised by a normal stiffness Kn1 and a shear stiffness Ks . The plastic
behaviour take into account a second normal stiffness Kn2 and a criterion of failure of
Mohr-Coulomb (see figure 1). These elements make it possible to take into account both the
vertical and horizontal friction.

2

n
max

= C n tg
p
_
n 0 C
n Elastic
Ks Domain
Kn1 _ n
n max + n tg 0

Kn2 -C

1.a - Compression 1.b - Shear 1.c Failure criterion

Figure 1 : Contact element

III FINITE ELEMENT MODEL

The present study deals with cell A of the experimental base of Chartres (Brozzetti, 89). It is a
square silo 6.42m side and 16m high. The walls are made with sheeting pile (with trapezoidal
horizontal corrugations) ; the steel sheet is 2mm thick. Vertical stiffeners (1 in each corner and 2
per side) and horizontal steel ties of 26mm diameter (placed inside the cell as shown on the
figure 2) complete the silo structure. The interaction and the frictional force exerted on the ties by
the ensiled material during filling and discharging processes are not taking into account. Due to
the symmetry, only one quarter of the cell is modelised. The horizontal distribution of ties and
stiffeners is shown on figure 2. In the vertical direction, 16 ties are placed and regularly spaced
along the height of the silo. The modelisation of the real geometry of the wall sheeting pile would
require a very great number of elements. To reduce it, we replaced the real geometry by a
constant thickness sheet with an equivalent thickness calculated to obtain the same rigidity as the
real wall in the horizontal direction. But, as this equivalent thickness, increases artificially the
vertical stiffness, an orthotropic plate has been used with an appropriate set of Young moduli.

The bulk material is discretized with linear volumic tetrahedron or pentahedron elements. DKT
plate elements are used to define the wall. The stiffeners are modelised by 2 nodes beam elements
and the ties by 2 nodes bar element.
2.14m Angle Stiffeners
2.14m
3.21m

Tie

Side Stiffeners

3.21m
Figure 2 : square silo with stiffeners and internal ties

3
IV FILLING AND DISCHARGING PROCESSES

The filling of the silo is simulated by increasing progressively the weight density of the ensiled
material.
For the emptying process, a permanent flow is assumed so that the bulk material is divided in a
moving zone and a dead zone. The boundary between these two aeras is defined by an
approximate maximum shear criterion applied to the ensiled material at the limit state
(Ragneau, 94). In the upper part of the silo where the flow trajectories are vertical and parallel,
the modelization established for the filling stage is valid again. In the lower part of the flow
where trajectories are radial, the stress distribution along the interface between the flow zone and
the dead zone can be assimilated to those which occur in an equivalent hopper whose friction
angle is equal to the internal friction angle. As after the cell filling the stress distribution along
the so-defined interface is known, the simulation of the emptying consists in applying the stress
increase due to the hopper flow effect by means of equivalent external forces located at the nodal
points of the interface.

V RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

The figures 3 (filling stage) and 4 (discharging stage) show the horizontal evolution on the wall
of the normal stress at two different height levels above the bottom. To investigate the effect of
wall flexibility, three different assumptions have been used : rigid walls (no displacements
everywhere in the sheet), flexible walls with rigid stiffeners (no displacements only along the
vertical stiffeners) and finally flexible walls, elastic stiffeners and internal ties have been
introduced.
Rigid walls

40 Flexible walls and rigid stiffeners

Flexible walls, elastic stiffeners and

internal ties
35
Horizontal wall pressures (kPa)

H = 2.2m
30

H = 6.07m
25

20
Side stiffener Angle stiffener

15
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5

Width (m)

Figure 3 : Normal stresses on the walls - Filling stage of the cell A

4
 Rigid walls

Flexible walls and rigid stiffeners

40
Flexible walls, elastic stiffeners and
internal ties

35 H = 6.07m
Horizontal wall pressures (kPa)

30 H = 2.2m

25

20
Side stiffener Angle stiffener

15
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5

Width (m)

Figure 4 : Normal stresses on the walls - Discharging stage of the cell A

For both filling and discharging, the flexibility of the wall allows a redistribution of the pressure
along an horizontal plane to take place. The lowest pressures are coincident with the positions of
largest wall deformation, and the largest pressures occur near the stiffeners (corner or side). This
effect appears along the whole height of the silo on figures 5-a (filling) and 5-b (discharging). For
the discharging stage, an significant increasing of pressure appears at the jonction between the
radial flow zone and the wall with a large range of variation from the corner to middle of the wall
side.

5.a Filling stage 5.b Discharging stage

Figure 5 : Normal stresses Flexible walls - Cell A

5
VI CONCLUSION

The F.E. simulation of the filling and discharging stages of a full scale silo shows that the
flexibility of the silo structure has a significant influence on the normal pressure distribution
along the wall. The classical models making assumption of rigid walls leads to localize the
maximum pressure (in the cross-section of a square silo) at the center of the wall. The stress
distributions obtained by our FEM analysis take account of the wall stiffness variation due to
vertical stiffeners and horizontal ties, and the localization of the maximum pressure is very
sensitive to the wall deformations. This is in agreement with experimental measurements
(Jarrett, 1995) and a great variety of silo problems like the influence of the silo geometry, the
location of the stiffners, the characteristics of the walls (section, thickness, shape) can be now
systematically studied. The results of such numerical simulations may be of interest to improve
the design of silos by a better understanding of the silo structural behaviour.

REFERENCES

Beer G., An isoparametric joint/interface element for finite element analysis, International
Journal for Numerical Methods Enginering, vol. 21, pp 585-600, 1985.
Bohar L., Millard A., Castem 2000 Guide dutilisation, Commissariat lEnergie Atomique,
Dpartement de Mcanique et Technologie, Service dEtudes Mcaniques et Thermiques,
Laboratoire dAnalyse Mcanique des Structures, novembre 92.
Brown C.J. and Nielsen J., Silos, Fundamentals of theory, behaviour and design, E & FN spon,
1998.
Brozzetti J., Description de la base exprimentale dessais de cellules mtalliques de stockage.
Prsentation du programme dessais. Revue Construction Mtallique, n2, 1989.
Degoutte G., Caractrisation en Laboratoire des Proprits Physiques et Mcaniques des Matires
Ensiles. Revue Construction Mtallique, 1989.
Hujeux J.C., Calcul Numrique de Problmes de Consolidation Elastoplastique, Thse de
Docteur-Ingnieur, Ecole Centrale de Paris, 8 juin 1979.
Jarrett N.D., Brown C.J., Moore D.B., Stress redistribution in rectangular planform silos,
Gotechnique, 45(1), pp. 95-104, March 1995.
Ooi, J.Y. and Rotter, J.M. (1990a) Wall pressures in a squat steel silos from finite element
analysis. Computers and Structures, 37(4), 361-374.
Ooi, J.Y. and Rotter, J.M. (1990b) Elastic predictions of pressures in a conical silo hoppers.
Engineering Structures, 13(2), 2-12.
Ragneau E., Aribert J.M., Sanad A. B., Modle Tri-dimensionnel aux Elments Finis pour le
Calcul des Actions sur les Parois dun Silo (Remplissage et Vidange), Construction Mtallique,
n 2, 1994.
Ragneau E., Aribert J.M., Silo Pressure Calculation : From a Finite Element Approach to
Simplified Analytical Solutions, Bulk Solids Handling, vol. 15, n 1, January/March 1995.
Sanad A.M., Analyse Tridimensionnelle des Actions aux Parois des Silos Modlisation par
Elments Finis et Mthodes Simplifies (Remplissage et Vidange). Thse de doctorat, I.N.S.A.
de Rennes, janvier 1997.