Friction of Granular Materials on Corrugated Steel Walls in Silos

Dr. Eutiquio Gallego Vázquez, Biosystems Engineer at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid presents at the 2024 ATCx DEM.

Steel silos with corrugated walls exhibit friction phenomena between the bulk material and the silo wall quite different from those produced in smooth walls. Discrete Element Method (DEM) simulations were performed to reproduce a silo model with sinusoidal corrugated steel walls and pinewood pellets as bulk material. The results obtained have shown the influence of the depth of corrugation and the wavelength on the velocity of the granular particles and the friction forces appeared against the wall.