Silos are used worldwide to store granular and powdered materials. Agricultural, food and feed products are commonly stored in silos. However, many questions remain unanswered about how to estimate the pressures applied by the bulk material, which are needed to design and calculate the structure of the silo. The complexity of the laws that govern the mechanical behavior of the stored material along with the low number of experimental stations in the world hinder progress in this field. The aim of this study was to elucidate the relationship of the hopper angle, flow pattern and vertical stress at the cylinder-to-hopper transition in slender silos. Therefore, a set of experiments was conducted on a test station to measure the vertical stress produced by maize at the cylinder-to-hopper transition. Five different hopper angles were used. The experiments comprised the filling, the static phase and the discharge. The results obtained show that the hopper angle influences the vertical stress at the cylinder-to-hopper transition. Some bottom configurations (flat bottom and bottom with an angle of 30°) led to vertical stresses that exceeded the value calculated according to Eurocode 1. It is clear that further experimental studies are still necessary to understand the underlying physical phenomena and the relations between pressures, silo geometry and flow pattern of the stored material.

Throughout their useful life structures demand monitoring to verify their conditions of use. Thus, the need arises to seek methodologies capable to evaluate displacements and deformations in structural components of buildings. The objective of this research was to evaluate the use of the particle image velocimetry (PIV) technique to analyze test specimen behavior during a static bending test, additionally a displacement map is presented. The PIV technique measures variations of position of a region in an object from consecutive images from a loading session. The tests were performed on wood of Pinus oocarpa and Eucalyptus grandis, plywood panels, laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and oriented strand board (OSB). The results obtained by the PIV technique were compared to values obtained from dial indicators. It was verified that in all the materials tested, the PIV technique presented results similar to those found in the dial indicators. By means of the Student t test, with a significance level of 1%, some regions of analysis the values found by the PIV technique and the dial indicators were statistically similar. For the analyzed regions that did not achieve statistical equality, a correction equation was calculated (R² higher than 0.99). It was concluded that the PIV technique, with properly adjusted setup, presented results similar to those obtained in the conventional tests, proving its accuracy and reliability in displacement measurements, with the advantage of being a non-destructive and contactless structure monitoring technique.

The objective of this work was to develop models using the Finite Element Method (FEM) to assess the maximum normal pressures in the static condition in silos using different wall friction coefficient and specific weight of the stored product compared to the pressures obtained by the Eurocode 1, part 4. The geometries of the silos models were developed based on the dimensions of the experimental station at the Universidad de Leon (Spain). The material properties were obtained by Jenike shear cell tests and were used to generate the models by the MEF. 3D models were generated varying the friction coefficient (0.2, 0.4, and 0.6) and the specific weight (6; 7.5 and 9 kN / m3). It was verified that the models by FEM follow the theory of pressures in silos: normal pressures increase due to the increase in specific weight and decrease due to the increase in the friction coefficient. Moreover, the maximum normal pressure occurs at the hopper silo transition. The experimental pressures (FEM models) compared with Eurocode 1, part 4 allowed to validate the models developed, presenting trends of similar values to those found by the MEF. The experimental models demonstrated that the influence of the wall friction coefficient and specific weight significantly interferes with the pressures in slender silos.

The Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) waste despite having excellent physical and mechanical properties is still largely unexplored besides presenting large volume of waste with very low degradability. The use of concrete block presents high resistance to compression, low price high masonry coating ratio by material weight, however high thermal conductivity. Therefore, the study aimed to produce and investigate the effect of adding GRFP residues to concrete blocks due to physical, mechanical and thermal properties. The compositions were made by replacing the fine gravel between 0 to 10% in mass by the GFRP residue. They were evaluated from physical, mechanical and thermal tests. The results showed that the use of GFRP residue did not interfere in water absorption and compressive strength, despite the significant increase in mechanical energy absorption of the material. Thermal conductivity reduced by 46% and the concrete blocks were 7% lighter. In addition to providing a destination for a considerable quantity of the waste, the commercial value of the final product is higher due to using a residue with low degradability and high energy power due to burning during recycling.

Utilização da técnica de velocimetria por imagens de partículas (PIV) para obtenção do mapa de deformações em painéis de madeira de Pinus oocarpa / Use of the particle imaging velocimetry (PIV) technique to obtain the deformation map in Pinus oocarpa wood panels