Experimental and numerical determination of apparent mass variation of granular media confined in silo geometry

Granular materials have vast applications both in industry and in daily life. They display quite interesting and exceptional properties different from the other known forms of matter. To investigate the complex properties of particulate materials, experimental, analytical, and numerical techniques have been employed. In this paper the results of experimental and numerical tests of various grain sizes and coefficient of friction between granules and cylindrical walls on the mass measured at bottom of container, known as apparent mass, are reported. It is revealed that apparent mass augments with the grain size. Moreover, it is also found that the variation in apparent mass measurement is strongly dependent on bead diameter rather than the silo size. The results suggest that the conversion of vertical stresses into horizontal in silo is mainly due to the friction between the grain and system boundary than the arching phenomenon