Lateral pressure of RC silos with static and dynamic granular materials

Abstract

This paper aims at analyzing material-induced lateral pressure of RC cylinder silo in both static and dynamic condition using the finite element method( FEM). In the finite element software ABAQUS,concrete material is modeled by concrete damaged plasticity model,and stored materials in silo is modeled by the hypoplastic theory.In terms of numerical model,shell elements( S4R) and solid elements( C3D8) are applied for model silo wall and stored materials respectively. The interaction between silo wall and stored materials is simulated by Coulomb friction model and penalty contact constrain provided by ABAQUS.The numerical results are verified with the existing experimental data that are designed to ensure the validation of such numerical model using FEM and it obtains good agreements between numerical results and experimental data. Then the material parameters are analyzed in both static and dynamic condition.According to the analysis,it is clear that critical friction angle,initial void ratio and minimum void ratio have an obvious effect on static lateral pressure while all the material parameters affect dynamic lateral pressure at different levels. In addition,differences of silo wall between elastic and plastic state are analyzed in dynamic condition. The numerical results show that it contributes to increasing dynamic pressure when silo wall enters into the plastic state. Finally,this paper discusses the time-history lateral pressure at different heights along silo wall,and analytical results indicate that larger acceleration values play main roles in producing the maximum lateral pressure at higher part of the silo wall.