SHEAR-BEAM ANALYSIS FOR SEISMIC RESPONSE OF METAL WHEAT BINS

Grain bins are often located in areas where the risk of earthquakes re quires they be designed to resist seismic loading. A description of th e shear-beam method of seismic analysis, including discussion of an ap propriate constitutive model for particulate materials, is presented. This is followed by formulation of the constitutive properties databas e for two types of wheat at two packing densities and three moisture c ontents, and the procedure for obtaining composite shear beam properti es from the individual wheat and bin wall properties. The results of s eismic response computations for a large steel bin filled with wheat a re given to illustrate the shear-beam analysis method.