| Storing of bulk materials is essential in a large number of industries. Powders are often stored in containers such as a bin, hopper or silo and discharged through an opening at the bottom of the container under the influence of gravity. This research tackles the frequent problems encountered in handling bulk solids such as flow obstructions and discontinuous flow resulting in doming and piping in hoppers. This problem is of interest to a variety of industries such as chemical processing, food, detergents, ceramics and pharmaceuticals. An objective of this work is to use finite element analysis to produce results that could easily be incorporated into the industry and be used by the design engineers. The study includes both a numerical approach, with an appropriate material response model, and an experimental procedure implemented on the bulk material of interest. Results from the analysis are used to relate the slopes of the channels and the size of the outlets. Results from the FEM analysis are verified using measured stresses from a Diamondback(TM) hopper. |
