Development of an Equipment to Obtain the Relation Between the Horizontal and Vertical Pressure in Silos

Abstract

Silos are essential for sectors such as agriculture, industry, and mining in Brazil, but they are structures with a high degree of complexity in relation to pressure determination. Therefore, new researches on the influence of the product stored in their structure are stimulated. For granular materials, the K coefficient is the factor obtained between the horizontal and the vertical pressure. This study aimed to develop a test device capable of calculating this coefficient based on the recommendations of EN 1991-4 (2006) (Eurocode 1: Actions on structures-Part 4: Silos and tanks). For that, two cylinders of different heights were elaborated to study the influence of the device height in obtaining K coefficient. The results were measured by strain gauges and load cell connected to a data acquisition system. A vertical pressure was applied to the equipment, which responded with values of deformation correlated to the horizontal pressure. The values of K coefficient for corn were found and compared with those from the literature, concluding that the equipment could be used for the proposed purpose.