Empirical Stochastic Silo Load Model. III: Reliability Applications

Pressure data obtained in experiments with an existing grain silo in the second paper were used to estimate the parameters of an empirical stochastic silo load model formulated in the first paper. The obtained silo load model is investigated in this paper with respect to its structural reliability implications. Before considering the silo wall as a cylindrical shell structure, a reliability analysis with respect to first yield hinge formation is made for a circular reinforced concrete beam imagined to be a ring cut out from the silo by two consecutive horizontal planes of infinitesimal mutual distance at a place far away from the end regions of the silo. The beam is subjected normal to the beam axis by the Gaussian silo pressure field that corresponds to an assumption of horizontally ideally smooth silo wall. The analysis rests on a special discretization technique made necessary because of limitations of the computational capacity. This technique has general applicability as a stochastic finite-element method for beam structures. The reliability analysis leads to a simple deterministic design rule for the combined tension and bending capacity of the ring beam.