Experimental Study on Lateral Pressure of Vertical Silo Structures Under Earthquake Sequences Effects

Abstract

The dynamic lateral pressure on silo wall generated by stored materials under earthquake sequences effects is a critical factor affecting silo safety. In this paper, a series of shaking table tests were conducted on a 1:20 scale plexiglass silo model under empty, half-filled, and fully filled conditions to investigate the dynamic lateral pressure distribution and strain response under earthquake sequences. The earthquake excitations of the 1940 El-Centro earthquake (El), the 1952 Taft earthquake (TF), and an artificial wave (AW) were selected and used in the shaking table tests. The test findings show that in the lower third of the silo, the stored materials and the silo structure move in sync, greatly reducing the dynamic lateral pressure in this region. Consequently, the lateral pressure on the silo side wall is lower than the internal horizontal pressure. As the storage height increases, the lateral pressure at the silo center becomes lower than the lateral pressure at the silo wall, indicating that the increased storage mass triggers internal force redistribution within the granular material. Under identical filling conditions and mainshock peak ground acceleration (PGA), the overpressure coefficient varies non-uniformly with silo height. The maximum value occurs at 1.6 m from the base (upper region), primarily due to dynamic material-wall interactions at the top during seismic excitation. Under identical mainshock-aftershock sequences, the strain response of the silo increases with both storage mass and PGAs, demonstrating significant correlation with filling conditions. The lower silo region represents a critical zone where relative motion between the stored materials and silo wall induces abrupt stiffness variations and potential structural damage. The test results can provide references for the seismic design of silos.

Keywords

different storage conditions / earthquake sequences effects / lateral pressure / shaking table tests / vertical silo

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