Empirically based gamma-distributed random wall pressure field in silo

Measurements show that silo wall pressures exhibit large fluctuations in time and space during discharge of the silo. This observation is important for the design of the silowall because spatial pressure variations may impose substantial bending moments in the silo wall that otherwise may be small or vanishing do to the carrying ability of the membrane forces in the silo wall. Information about the stochastic properties of this pressure variation cannot be obtained from any existing continuum model for the silo medium flowing within the confinement of the silo walls. Therefore the modeling must presently be tied to statistical analysis of the empirical evidence combined with simple mechanical rinciples. It is shown that an explicitely constructed gamma distribution type of field in equilibrium with itself fits well to themeasurements made in the Swedish Karpalund silo.