ABSTRACT

Nowadays the design of silo structures is usually based on the deterministic values of the bulk material. As can be seen from a lot of experimental results these characteristic values show an inherently big scatter, due to the fact that in the case of many organic materials these parameters depend on moisture. It is well known for example that Canadian wheat behaves differently from German wheat and so on. This is also confirmed by the experience that sometimes silo structures behave well over several years and suddenly fail without having changed the type of stored material. Therefore the definition of characteristic values of these parameters within the frame of a modern safety philosophy is of special interest to the final design.