On the evaluation of the horizontal forces produced by grain-like material inside silos during earthquakes

This paper presents analytical developments devoted to the evaluation of the effective behaviour of grain in flat-bottom silos during an earthquake. This research work starts from all the same basic assumptions of Eurocode 8 except for the one regarding the horizontal shear forces among consecutive grains. Only this difference leads to a new physically-based evaluation of the effective mass of the grain which horizontally pushes on the silo walls. The analyses are developed by simulating the earthquake ground motion with time constant vertical and horizontal accelerations and are carried out by means of simple dynamic equilibrium equations that take into consideration the specific mutual actions developing in the ensiled grain. The findings indicate that, in case of squat silos (characterized by low, but usual, height/diameter slenderness ratios), the portion of the grain mass that interacts with the silo walls turns out to be noticeably smaller than the total mass of the grain in the silo and the effective mass adopted by Eurocode 8.