TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON THE BUCKLING OF LARGE FLAT-BOTTOM SQUAT STEEL SILOS FOR ALUMINA

摘要

With the rapid development of industrial production, the storing capacity of silos is increasing continuously; as a result, large diameter flat-bottom squat steel cylindrical silos are more and more widely used in practice. The size of these steel silos and the physical properties of the stored granular material (such as alumina) are often beyond the scope of most silo design codes, and furthermore, such silos are usually located outdoor in surroundings with sever temperature variations. In this paper, temperature effects on the buckling behavior of large flat-bottom squat steel silos for alumina is studied by the finite element analysis software ANSYS. The loading on the silo wall, i. e. normal pressures from the stored granular solid and vertical compressive forces developed from the friction between the stored solid and the silo wall, is calculated according to the corresponding design code. Additionally, temperatures varying from-40'C to 80°C were introduced to the silo walls to model the temperature variations of the surroundings. For each temperature four buckling analysis methods, i. e. GNA, GNIA, GMNA and GMNIA are employed to explore the buckling behavior of the silos. Finally, from the results of the FE analysis, the buckling behavior of the silos under temperature variations was discussed and conclusions were drawn.