Abstract
The mechanical behaviour of a single cell grain storage silo under non?axisymmetric loads such as wind and seismic forces was investigated.The study was carried out by the use of finite element method (FEM) incorporating planar elements which are transformed into shell elements.The representation of the non?axisymmetrical loading on a selected silo model shell wall has been illustrated.Further, some of the generated deformations and internal stresses based on the developed procedure and adopted reference wind velocity of 35m/s and seismic coefficients of 0.339 (for silo body), and 0.281 (for stored content) which are consistent with the suggestions given in the JSAE standard codes have been presented.
The generated deformation and stresses due to the non-axisymmetrical loading on silo in use were compared to those of the normal state silo.From the results it was found that these loading induced large deformation and stresses on the silo wall, for example, wind generated maximum bending moment was about 1.4 times more than that due to normal state silo.Likewise, seismic force generated higher value of about 3 and 2 times of the normal state and wind load respectively.
