Why silos fail
This article explains what's behind silo failures and how you can take steps as you design, build, and use your silo to ensure that the vessel lasts year after trouble-free year. "Quick tips" throughout give practical advice on how to apply this information to properly designing, constructing, and operating your silo.
At about 10:00 p. m. on a cool September evening in 1996, an enormous cracking sound shattered the calm near a southwestern US coal-fired power-generation station. The lone worker near a new 80-foot-diameter fly ash silo knew that this sound warned of imminent danger, and he quickly fled the area. In the morning he found that the silo had split apart, burying the spot where he'd been standing under 20 feet of fly ash.