Formula Derivation and Analysis of the Seismic Lateral Pressure of Squat Silos

Abstract

The silo lateral pressure is an important parameter in the seismic design of squat silo. However, there is no exact theoretical calculation formula in the current silo code and the existing literature. The current study aimed to directly derive a new formula for calculating the seismic lateral pressure of squat silos in a simplified way. Firstly, based on Coulomb theory, regarded the silo as a special curved retaining wall and took the sliding wedge unit as the study object. Secondly, used the pseudo-static method and the rotating seismic angle method to simplify seismic forces and perform limit equilibrium analysis to derive the calculation formula. Finally, we verified the proposed formula by numerical simulation and parametric analysis. The results showed that silo wall friction could not be ignored, while the material cohesion is small enough to be ignored during engineering. For a large-diameter squat silo in a flat stack condition, a change in the radius has less influence on the side pressure strength, and the squat silo can be simplified as a linear retaining wall, while the lateral pressure strength increases as the radius increases in the conical stack condition. In addition, the measurement data and simulation calculation were close to the formula calculation, indicating the superiority of the new formula. These research results could provide a reference basis for improving the calculation of the seismic lateral pressure of silo specifications.