TA project: ASESGRAM

Click here to read the final report of the ASESGRAM Project.

A concise presentation of the aim and main outcomes of the project is available in the Joint brochure of the SERIES TA facilities.

TITLE OF PROPOSAL: Assessment of the Seismic Behaviour of Flat-Bottom Silos Containing Grain-like Materials

HOST TA FACILITY: EQUALS, Bristol, UK

TA AGREEMENT BETWEEN USERS AND FACILITY: signed

STARTING DATE: December 2010

END DATE: February 2013

NO. OF USERS (researchers): 3

LEAD USER: 
Dora Foti - Technical University of Bari (Italy)

ADDITIONAL USERS: 
Tomaso Trombetti - University of Bologna (Italy)
Salvador Ivorra Chorro - University of Alicante (Spain)

 

SUMMARY OF PROPOSED RESEARCH:

This research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an innovative methodology for the seismic design of flat-bottom silos containing granular, grain-like material.

The seismic design of such silos is currently developed estimating the inertia forces caused by earthquakes upon these structures using a “crude” evaluation (mass of the grain-like material multiplied by the Peak Ground Acceleration).
In recent analytical research work developed by the team, the actions provoked by earthquake ground motions on the walls of flat-bottom grain silos have been studied analytically. The mutual actions exchanged between the grain and the silo walls under static and accelerated conditions (constant vertical acceleration and constant horizontal acceleration) have been assessed. The analytical results obtained have allowed to formulate some synthetic suggestions aimed at assessing seismic effects on the walls of flat-bottom grain silos. The results indicate that, in the case of silos characterized by specific (but normal) height/diameter slenderness ratios, the portion of the grain mass interacting with the silo walls proves to be noticeably lower than the total grain mass contained in the silo used in the “traditional” design of such structures, thus allowing for smaller actions to be taken into account in the seismic design of such structures.

The proposed shaking table experimental test here proposed aims at the identification of the forces induced by the grain like material upon such silos in order to verify the theoretical findings. 

What's next

Series logo small   SERIES Concluding Workshop
  Joint with US-NEES "Earthquake Engineering Research Infrastructures

Follow us