Multi-scale experimental study on filling and discharge of squat silos with aboveground conveying channels

Filling and discharge tests of reduced-scale and full-scale squat silos with aboveground conveying channels are carried out to investigate the pressure distribution and the overpressure evolution on the wall and the channel. The filling tests imply that the pressure distribution on the wall bottom is significantly influenced by the channel. Rankine’s active earth pressure equation gives accurate prediction of the lateral pressure on the wall, which is overestimated by the Jaky’s equation. The filling pressure on the channel wall is related to the stored material heights caused by the repose cone. The arch effect of the channel and the equilibrium effect of the wall friction in the squat silos should not be overrated. The shallow buried theory gives more reasonable prediction of filling pressure on the wall and the channel in the squat silos. The discharge tests show the overpressure coefficient does not increase with the increase of the discharge eccentricity. Meanwhile, the aspect ratio has a great influence on the overpressure coefficient. An overpressure on the top wall and the side wall of the channel is observed in multi-scale discharge tests. It is suggested that the overpressure coefficient of the channel should be considered when calculating the discharge load.