Solar Radiation Effects On The Structural Behavior Of Large Flat-bottom Squat Steel Silos

The steel silos are always located outdoor, thus the solar radiation has some effecton the structure. There is few study focus on this topic. The paper aims at revealing thesolar radiation effects on the structural behavior of the steel silos.The silo to be analyzed is a cylindrical shell structure used for storing alumina. Toanalyse the strength and stability of the silo, the non-uniform temperatures caused bysolar radiation were introduced to the silo walls by FEM program.The hoop、axial、von Mises stress and the axial、radial displacement of the wallcaused by non-uniform temperature are compared with uniform temperature and normaltemperature. Then the thickness of the wall and the diameter of the silo will vary toreveal the change law of the stress caused by the thickness and diameter. It is necessaryto explore the buckling behavior and load carrying capacity at buckling of such silosunder non-uniform temperatures caused by solar radiation and with different analysismethods as recommended in the Eurocode3(EN1993-1-6：2004). Four analysis typesi.e. GNA, GMNA, GNIA and GMNIA are used for the determination of load carryingcapacities. The way for failing the silo by buckling is increasing the bulk material loads.