Structural behaviour of silos supported on discrete, eccentric brackets

Abstract Supporting steel silos on discrete, eccentric brackets offers an attractive alternative to using traditional ring beam supports in terms of both cost and simplicity of construction. A range of silos of typical geometries are analysed and the structural behaviour presented. Collapse modes are found to include buckling, plastic collapse and combined mechanisms. The results of a finite element parametric study that considers the effects of bracket width, bracket height and geometric imperfections are then presented. It is found that the strength of bracket-supported silos is strongly but non-linearly dependent on bracket width. Increasing the bracket height also increases the silo strength. Bracket-supported silos are found to be generally imperfection insensitive. However, a weld imperfection placed above the bracket can result is significantly increased strength.