Learnings from the 2015 Pongola silo failure

摘要

During June 2015 the refined sugar silo at the Pongola Sugar Mill suffered a severe buckling failure. The failure occurred with the silo in operation and full of sugar. During the months which followed the silo was stabilised, strengthened, the sugar was removed, the damaged sections were safely dismantled and a thorough investigation into the cause of the failure was undertaken. This paper reports on the steps taken to safely dismantle the silo and on the various mechanisms by which silos can fail which were considered during the investigation. Most importantly, the paper provides a list of recommendations to be followed to reduce the likelihood of future silo failures.