Numerical simulations of pressures applied on a cylindrical silo with hopper due to a granular material by using FEM and DEM

Abstract

In this work, we have simulated the behavior of the granular flow of dry wheat material inside a cylindrical steel silo with a concentric hopper during the filling and emptying process. Theinfluence on the wall was studied by obtaining the pressures and stresses using the Finite Element Method (MEF) and Discrete Element Method (DEM). The obtained results by the analytical formulas of EUROCODE, the FEM and DEM are compared. The analyzed results include the vertical distributions of pressures that the ensiled material exerted on the silo walls and the distributions of normal and tangential stresses under extreme actions of emptying and filling. The results show that the DEM simulation is more realistic even by using the upscaling technique with a particle scale factor of 10. The pressures obtained by simulations are close to those obtained by EC, and the stresses are almost identical.