Your task is to investigate the effects of the varying properties of industrial grade wood pellets, as given in Table 1, on the vertical and horizontal stresses in a cylindrical bulk silo. The dimensions of the silo (Figure 1) are related to the last three digits of your student number. For example, if your student number was 012345678 then the diameter of the silo would be 3.678 meters.
As a guide, the following questions should be addressed in your investigation:
For the various limiting values of industrial wood pellet bulk solids properties shown in Table 1, how are the vertical and horizontal stresses affected as the depth, , increases? A graphs of the stresses vs depth would help visualise it.
How does range of stress ratio values for industrial grade wood pellets influence the horizontal stress?
Do the vertical and horizonal stresses approach a limiting value if the height of the silo was increased?
Figure 2 shows a photo of a port facility that has both liquid and bulk solid storage vessels. As can be seen from the photo, liquid tanks tend to have a large diameter and shallow height, whereas bulk solid/ powder storage silos tend to have a small diameter and a large height. Suggest why this is the case.
Fig 2 Port facilities showing presence of liquid and bulk solid storage vessels
