Eurocode 1-6 in buckling calculation of agricultural steel silos

Abstract

Nowadays numerous applications exist in agricultural, farm and industrial processing which use contention structures for their productions. This type of structures present many problems for its design with the lack of a national standard that guides on the calculation of actions for silaged material, the appearance of the last versions of Eurocode 1-4 partially covers this paucity. The recent appearance of Eurocode 1993- 1-6 and Eurocode 1993-4-1 fries to cover the lack of normative for calculation of silos, proposing the use of numeric methods for a correct design and indicating the different limits states that should be considered. Numerous previous studies have demonstrated the utility of numeric methods, and specially the Finite Element Method for calculation of pressures on agricultura1 silos in different states. One of the most common failures in these structures is buckling of barrels due to friction exerted by stored materials. The object of this paper is to compare the calculation methods proposed by new ENV 1993-1-6 and 1993-4-1 with a global model calculated by the Finite Element Method, obtaining conclusions about silo behavior and forces which can provoke buckling and determining the stress state exerted on the structure.