Numerical simulation of reinforcement in steel slender silos having concentric hopper with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer composites (study of the silos filling)

This paper presents a numerical analysis of the reinforcement of steel slender silos having concentric hopper with carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP). The numerical model has been developed using the finite element method, where the stored material was considered to be wheat. The actions of the stored material over the silo wall were obtained by simultaneously modelling the silo wall with shell elements, and the wheat with solid elements. The interaction between both materials was properly simulated by using adequate contact elements. The Drucker Prager elastoplastic criterion was used to define the behaviour of the stored material. The simulations analysed the influence of different reinforcement layers and the placement of reinforcement. In all cases, the effectiveness of the CFRP use for reinforcing steel slender silos was obtained. Indeed, a significant reduction of the circumferential and meridional stresses, especially for the bin - hopper junction was also obtained. The results shows that up to 50% reduction of stresses are obtained in the silo with five layers compared to a silo with non-reinforced wall. The reinforcement with CFRP can be of interest for silos having suffered damage and alterations that induced a reduction in the thickness of their walls.