WEAR-IN EFFECTS ON LOADS AND FLOW IN A SMOOTH-WALL BIN

The wall and floor loads exerted by wheat on a smooth-wall, flat-botto m bin 2.44 m in diameter and 7.3 m high were determined as a function of the number of fill and unload cycles [loading cycle (LC)]. The vert ical wall load to total grain load ratio decreased from 52.7% for the first loading cycle to 28.3% for the 10th LC. The dynamic-to-static wa ll load ratio increased from 1.08 to 1.24 during 10 LCs. The grain hei ght-to-bin diameter ratio at which grain flow changed from plug to fun nel flow decreased from approximately 1.75 for the first LC to 1.6 for the 10th LC.