Experimental Study of the Silo Effect

Granular material widely exists in the natural world and our daily life. It has attracted much attention from scientists who have performed numerous studies on this subject matter and have laid a firm foundation for further research. The silo effect is a classic topic in granular material, and it has been studied for more than one hundred years. The Janssen model, one of the powerful tools to study the silo effect, is widely applied in practical application because it helps researchers effectively predict the pressure at the bottom of the silo. However, the Janssen model assumes the granular material to be a continuum medium, which is not the case for some granular material whose size is relatively big. Therefore, the applicability of the Janssen model remains unclear. This study explores the applicability of the Janssen model experimentally with different kinds of granular material: dry sand and glass beads. The dry sand is used to validate the Janssen model, while the glass beads indicate the limitations of the Janssen model.