How to Prevent Steel Silo Collapse

The collapse of the steel silo not only causes economic losses to the enterprise, but also threatens the life safety of the workers. It is an important issue we must pay attention to.

What could cause the steel silos to collapse? How should we prevent it? This blog will help you find answers to these questions.

The Causes of Steel Silo Collapse

1. Insufficient Design Strength

All steel silos look similar in appearance. But in fact, due to the different materials stored in the silo, the force generated on the silo wall is very different. Different storing materials can vary hugely in their material properties, that’s why every silo should be designed strictly according to the materials it is going to store, otherwise, the safety can not be guaranteed. For example, a steel silo designed to store cement may collapse if it is used to store fly ash.

By studying the cases of steel silo collapse, we can find that most of the collapsed steel silos have the problem of insufficient design strength. Many of these steel silos are seriously deficient in both circumferential tensile strength and vertical compressive strength.

If a silo designer lacks knowledge about the material the silo is going to store, he may likely use wrong parameters in his design work, which will bury a seed of accident in the project.

In addition to considering different material properties, the design process of the steel silo also considers which industry the steel silo will be used for. For example, in the oil industry, the design of the steel silo only needs to consider wind load, snow load, self-weight load, etc. Other loads are small. But in the building materials industry, the silo has large equipment loads, corridor loads, inspection loads, and ash loads. If designers do not know enough about these load characteristics, they will inevitably lead to insufficient design strength and leave potential safety hazards.

2. Ill Silo Body Structure

In the structure of a steel silo, if the basic design is unreasonable and the foundation is improperly connected with the steel slats, then when extreme temperatures strike, the possibility of damage to the sliver due to structural limitations will increase.

3. Wrong Building Material

At present, most steel silos use ordinary Q235B steel plates as their building material. This kind of steel plate performs well under most circumstances, but when the temperature drops dramatically, it will become weaker and cause steel silos to collapse. Many steel silo collapse accidents could have been avoided if those silos were built with low-temperature resistant steel plate.

The cold shrinkage coefficient of the low-temperature resistant steel plate is lower than that of the ordinary steel plate at a low-temperature condition. In the case of structural defects, the stress increase is small, and the force to produce damage is also much smaller. Meanwhile, the steel plate will not exhibit low temperature “cold brittleness” within the use temperature range, and the possibility of structural damage will be greatly reduced.

4. Improper Operation

Improper operations are also one of the causes of steel silo collapse. Some users have arbitrarily increased the load on the silo body after the steel silo is built. For example, adding equipment on the top of the warehouse, adding corridors, adding loads on the corridors, increasing the loading capacity, increasing the load on the body side, and so on. Here is a case that a steel silo was bearing 60000 tons weight while its designed capacity is only 40000 tons. These improper operations increase the possibility of accidents, and we must learn to avoid them.

Advantages of Our Products

Anyang Flyer Steel Silo Engineering Co., Ltd has a steel structure engineering contractor qualification and an independent import and export business qualification, its products have passed ISO9000 quality management system certification.

The company is specializing in the research, development, and design of various materials storage technology. Its products are widely used in cement building materials, mineral powder, fly ash, grain and oil, sewage treatment, and other industrial fields.

The construction of Flyer steel silo is superb and the service is first class. For the completed projects, we will provide one-on-one silo operation on-site training and telephone visit every three months, to remind customers of problems that should be noticed in the use of steel silos and collect information of silo quality. After receiving customer feedback, engineers will be arranged to rush to the scene with the fastest means of transportation. They will provide technical solutions, and thoroughly solve all problems for the customer. The maintenance service is free in one year.