Análise estrutural dos perfis de sustentação de um elevador de canecas

Abstract

A grain storage unit contain grain bins, grain dryers, grain conveyors, among others. The bucket elevator is a conveyor that has the function of vertical transport of grain. The structural support of the bucket elevator is accomplished through the support module, which in addition to resist its own weight it should support loads due to wind and the movement of grain safely and reliably. The support module is formed mainly by two casings, which one is composed of cold-formed steel structural members. This study examined the structural behavior of the support module casings used to support of a bucket elevator. When the cold-formed steel members are putting together, they form the casing that serves to isolate the grain at the vertical transport and mainly support all loads that are submitted in the bucket elevator. First, the external loads were subjected on the equipment, attributed the structural links fixing and other boundary conditions representing the actual conditions in a numerical model of the bucket elevator. So, get the internal efforts of the elements for use in the analysis in the individual support module. Subsequently, it was analyzed the structural behavior and calculated the collapse load of the casing through three different methods: method of effective width according to the procedures of the ABNT NBR 14762: 2010; compression experimental test with centered load; and finite element method (FEM) using a nonlinear analysis and taking into account the physical and geometric nonlinearity, and the initial geometric imperfections. It was used the results of the experimental test to validate the boundary conditions and define the form to attribute the initial geometric imperfections in the numerical model. Through the three methods was possible to define that the collapse of the casing is influenced predominantly by the local buckling. Finally, using the collapse load of the experimental test results as a basis it was possible to compare the results obtained by method of effective width and finite element method, which obtains a difference of 6.8% and 11%, respectively.