Granular Effects Arising from Mounted Pressure Cells in Silo Walls - Dem Analyses

The use of appropriate pressure cells together with a reliable system to mount them in the silo wall is important to facilitate the later interpretation of the results. Plate-type normal pressure cells without fluid behind have been used in an installation of three full-scale steel silos with different eccentric hoppers. Local imperfections introduced when normal pressure cells were mounted on the wall of these silos were found to be responsible of overpressure registered during the storage process. Wheat and maize were tested in these silos. Discrete element analyses have been developed in order to find out the effects that explain these overpressure. The development of a sheared zone responsible of dilatancy effects and the concentration of forces where the particles are trapped into the local imperfection were observed when the stored material slides along the silo wall. Particle size distribution was also found significant in the increments of pressure registered.