MODELING OF ICE THICKNESS IN MANURE TANKS

In Quebec, concrete tanks storing swine manure have been observed to d eteriorate prematurely. Ice loads and thermal gradient; through the ta nk wall have been identified as causal. Ice pressure load has been the object of very few studies. Position, ice thickness, pressure, and te mperature are the most important load factors. This study proposes a m odel that predicts ice thickness in a manure tank according to the ave rage temperatures of December, January, and February. The present arti cle offers a model to compute the design ice thickness for a concrete tank wall. The proposed model is based on manure ice thickness observa tions for Quebec and Montreal. These measurements show a +/- 100 mm er ror with the model. For Quebec and Montreal respectively, the model pr edicts a design ice thickness of 340 and 260 mm.