Numerical calculations of wall pressures and stresses in steel cylindrical silos with concentric and eccentric hoppers

This article presents finite element (FE) calculations of stresses in a silo structure caused by the loads exerted by the discharging material. Two different conical hoppers were studied, concentric and eccentric withdrawal. The eccentricity was introduced by the change of the outlet position towards one side of the hopper, and the influence of this modification is presented. The simulation of silo flow with the common Drucker-Prager model for bulk solids was performed in order to obtain the wall pressure distribution. All FE calculations are carried out with aid of the commercial software ABAQUS. Significant differences are found in the hopper-wall stresses between the concentric and eccentric cases. Strong bending actions appear in the eccentric hopper, and they are influenced by stiffness of the hopper/cylinder junction.