Strategies to mitigate dead-zones in on-farm stored grain silos fitted with aeration ducting modelled using computational fluid dynamics

摘要

Centre filling of a cylindrical silo results in a peaked grain pile with a high concentration of fines in the bulk core restricting airflow. Fines are also known to have higher mycotoxin levels than whole grain. Coring is recommended to minimise fines and to increase localised airflow through the top grain regions. However, the proportion of coring is not a general -ised factor when silo dimensions and fan capacities are considered. Also, the coring pro-portion used should be minimised to maximise storage capacity and provide good economic returns. A study of sequential coring was conducted using a computational fluid dynamics method to predict the optimised coring volume for a 1000 t silo fitted with 3 kW and 5 kW fans. Each configuration following coring was validated using airflow data measured on the top grain surface of the 12.8 m diameter on-farm silo.