Dynamics of silo deformation under granular discharge

Abstract

We use Topological Data Analysis to study the post buckling behavior of laboratory scale cylindrical silos under gravity driven granular discharges. Thin walled silos buckle during the discharge if the initial height of the granular column is large enough. The deformation of the silo is reversible as long as the filling height does not exceed a critical value, $L_c$. Beyond this threshold the deformation becomes permanent and the silo often collapses. We study the dynamics of reversible and irreversible deformation processes, varying the initial filling height around $L_c$. We find that all reversible processes exhibit striking similarities and they alternate between regimes of slow and fast dynamics. The patterns that occur at the beginning of irreversible deformation processes are topologically very similar to those that arise during reversible processes. However, the dynamics of reversible and irreversible processes is significantly different. In particular, the evolution of irreversible processes is much faster. This allows us to make an early prediction of the collapse of the silo based solely on observations of the deformation patterns.