Experiments on Corn Pressure in Silo Cells -- Translation and Comment of Janssen's Paper from 1895

TL;DR

This paper translates and comments on Janssen's 1895 study of granular pressure in silos, highlighting early insights into pressure saturation and its historical development in granular material research.

Contribution

It provides the first English translation of Janssen's foundational work, contextualizes it historically, and discusses subsequent developments in understanding granular pressure.

Findings

Demonstrated pressure saturation in granular materials

Derived a formula for pressure distribution in silos

Connected historical predictions to modern understanding

Abstract

The German engineer H.A. Janssen gave one of the first accounts of the often peculiar behavior of granular material in a paper published in German in 1895. From simple experiments with corn he inferred the saturation of pressure with height in a granular system. Subsequently, Janssen derived the equivalent of the barometric formula for granular material from the main assumption that the walls carry part of the weight. The following is a translation of this article. The wording is chosen as close as possible to the original. While drawings are copied from the original, figures displaying data are redone for better readability. The translation is complemented by some bibliographical notes and an assessment of earlier work, wherein Hagen predicted the saturation of pressure with depth in 1852, and Huber-Burnand demonstrated that saturation qualitatively as early as in 1829. We conclude with a brief discussion of more recent developments resting on Janssen's work.