VARIATIONAL FORMULATION OF STEADY FLOW IN A HOPPER

A variational problem about maximal stable arches in a hopper is formu lated. This problem idealizes an industrial problem related to guarant eering reliable flow of material out of a storage silo. To obtain exis tence, the generalized function are introduced and studied. Specifical ly, functions in the spaces can be discontinuous in the interior of th e domain as well as along the boundaries. For the von Mises type of ma terial in two dimension, the limit load is estimated and its asymptoti c behavior is investigated.