Case Study Evaluation of Farm and Commercial Grain Bins during the August 2020 Iowa Derecho Windstorm
Publication: Forensic Engineering 2022
ABSTRACT
On August 10, 2020, a derecho windstorm occurred across several Midwestern states, including Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, resulting in structural damage exceeding 750 miles in length. This event presented a unique opportunity to evaluate the performance of agricultural structures because of the unusually large area impacted in a predominantly agricultural region of the country. This study focuses on the response of steel grain bins, which are critical structures to support the agricultural industry and for which widespread damage was observed. While several factors impact the performance of steel grain bins under severe wind loads, the case study presented in this paper analyzes the performance of two common types of steel grain bins—namely, farm bins and commercial bins. The intended functions of these bins are the same, but they are marketed towards different scales of operation. In this paper, the performance of adjacent, geometrically similar farm and commercial bins is presented, which was documented through a combination of aerial imagery, structure-from-motion reconstructions, as well as manual measurements and photographs. While the farm and commercial bins were largely identical, the farm bins buckled and uplifted during the windstorm while the commercial bins were undamaged. Analysis of the bins concluded that the presence of exterior stiffeners, intended to permit larger storage sizes, provided additional resistance to wind loads.
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Forensic Engineering 2022
Pages: 373 - 382
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Published online: Nov 2, 2022
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