Wood Bin Wall Design

[pioneer09]

Been asked to look into a project for expansion at a feedmill. Typical construction of the walls that allow storage of commodities and fertilizers is attached and has been used on numerous projects; design by others. When I look at the typical wall section, this looks like a viable option at first. The design incorporates, wood bending members that are simply supported and resisted by steel tension members (rods) that prevent the walls from "blowing out." When I run some quick numbers on this, the stud members at the lower sections fail in shear and/or bending due to the hydrostatic loading. Has anyone else dabbled in design of these type of walls or have any comments/suggestions for design. I know the easy solution is to increase the stud member size (width/depth) or decrease member lengths, but am trying hard not to do this since the bin design is not changing drastically from previous designs. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

[KootK]

A stud wall's a stud wall. The only avenue I can think of for refining your result would be on the loading side. Perhaps there's a way to be more aggressive with the angle of repose, load duration factor, or load casing? If you're failing 2x10's in shear, I'd take a close look at the stud to plate connections as well. And maybe the sill to foundation connection.

I like to debate structural engineering theory -- a lot. If I challenge you on something, know that I'm doing so because I respect your opinion enough to either change it or adopt it.

 

[oldestguy]

Grains in bins tend to "hang-up" and thus conventional designs as with soil don't apply. I'd contact a few University Profs in the Ag Engineering sections. I'd bet this is pretty well a standard design thing for them. I did a quick Google search and it is obvious that this is not a simple subject, also to include vertical hang up loads on the walls during unloading. One paper by Purdue Univ. was found, so I'd look there first. Since most bins seem to be round, a rectangular one may be even more complicated.