Static avalanches and Giant stress fluctuations in Silos

TL;DR

This paper introduces a simple model for arch formation in silos, revealing that small perturbations can cause giant, power-law distributed stress fluctuations linked to large-scale static avalanches within the silo.

Contribution

It presents a novel model connecting small perturbations to large stress fluctuations and static avalanches in silos, highlighting long-range stress redistribution mechanisms.

Findings

Stress fluctuations follow a power-law distribution with exponent ~1.0.

Small perturbations can trigger giant stress fluctuations.

Static avalanches involve long-range stress redistribution.

Abstract

We propose a simple model for arch formation in silos. We show that small pertubations (such as the thermal expansion of the beads) may lead to giant stress fluctuations on the bottom plate of the silo. The relative amplitude $\Delta$ of these fluctuations are found to be power-law distributed, as $\Delta^{-\tau}$, $\tau \simeq 1.0$. These fluctuations are related to large scale `static avalanches', which correspond to long-range redistributions of stress paths within the silo.