ANSI/ASAE EP446.

3 APR2008
Loads Exerted by Irish Potatoes in Shallow Bulk Storage
Structures

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ANSI/ASAE EP446.3 APR2008
Revision approved as an American National Standard May 2008

Loads Exerted by Irish Potatoes in Shallow Bulk Storage

Structures

Developed under the direction of the SE-202 Committee of the ASAE 2.4 ANSI/ASAE EP545 MAR1995, Loads Exerted by Free-Flowing
Structures Group; approved by the ASAE Structures and Environment Grains on Shallow Storage Structures
Division Standards Committee; adopted by ASAE as a Data February
1985; reconfirmed December 1989; revised and reclassified as an
Engineering Practice August 1990; revised November 1995; approved as 3 Terminology
an American National Standard December 1995; reaffirmed January 3.1 potatoes, dry: Potatoes put into the bin under normal harvesting
2001; reaffirmed by ANSI January 2001; reaffirmed by ASABE February moisture conditions without being sprayed with water and/or chemical
2006; reaffirmed by ANSI March 2006; editorial revision September 2006; fungicide or rained on.
revised April 2008; revision approved by ANSI May 2008.
3.2 potatoes, wet: Potatoes that have been sprayed with water and/or
Keywords: Loads, Potatoes, Pressure, Storage chemical fungicide or have been rained on during bin filling operations.
3.3 storage, potato: A structure designed and constructed for storing
1 Purpose and scope potatoes in bulk.
1.1 This practice provides guidelines from which designers may
calculate loads on vertical and inclined walls, partitions, bin fronts, ducts,
and appurtenances that are to resist lateral pressure of potatoes stored 4 Nomenclature
in bulk. These guidelines may be modified for specific, unique load
conditions. h is overall height of potato pile, m (ft)
1.2 This practice is for bins that are wider than deep ( B H ) and not z is distance below top of potato pile, m (ft)
deeper than 5.5 m (18 ft) (see figure 1 for explanation of symbols). g is acceleration due to gravity, 9.81 m/s2 (1 lbf/lbm)
m is mass of the product per unit volume, kg/m3 ( lbm/ft3)
1.3 This practice is for bins in which length ( L ) is greater than width ( B ).
Ka is active pressure ratio of lateral to vertical stress
1.4 This practice applies to maximum potato pressures measured in C is vertical distance from bottom of pile to the resultant force of
full-sized bins. These occurred with wet potatoes. the pressure p
1.5 Other types of structural loads are listed in the following standards: H is height of bin wall, m (ft)
ASAE EP475, ASAE EP378.3, ASAE EP538 and ASAE EP545. p is perpendicular pressure caused by the potato pile acting on
the wall per unit area of vertical wall surface, kPa (lbf/ft2)
2 Normative references S is summation of frictional force from potato pile acting on the
The following standards contain provisions which, through reference in wall surface and in a direction parallel to the wall surface for
this text, constitute provisions of this Engineering Practice. At the time of a unit height of wall, kN/m (lbf/ft)
publication, the editions indicated were valid. All standards are subject to W is resultant of the wall pressure, p , from potatoes, acting
revision, and parties to agreements based on this Engineering Practice perpendicular to wall face, for a unit length of wall, kN/m
are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent (lbf/ft)
editions of the standards indicated below. Standards organizations is angle included between bin wall and bin floor, which is
maintain registers of currently valid standards. covered with potatoes, degrees
2.1 ASAE EP475.1 JAN01, Design and Management of Storages for is internal angle of friction of the stored material, degrees
Bulk, Fall-Crop Irish Potatoes is angle of friction between the stored material and the wall,
2.2 ASAE EP378.3 FEB04, Floor and Suspended Loads on Agricultural degrees
Structures Due to Use = tan is coefficient of friction between wall surface and stored
2.3 ASAE EP538 DEC1996, Design Loads for Bunker (Horizontal) Silos potatoes, at rest, dimensionless

5 General design information

5.1 angle, inclined wall (): This normally is less than or equal to 90
degrees and greater than .
5.2 density, bulk (m): The bulk density of potatoes may range from
625 kg/m3 (39 lb/ft3) to 700 kg/m3 (44 lb/ft3). Large potatoes [greater
than 89 mm (3.5 in.) diameter] with a low specific gravity of 1.050 may
reach the smaller bulk density value. Small potatoes [less than 50 mm
(2.0 in.) diameter] with a high specific gravity of 1.100 may reach the
larger bulk density value. A bulk density of 670 kg/m3 (42 lb/ft3) is
normally used for field-run potatoes.
5.3 friction, angle of internal (): For potatoes, the angle of internal
Figure 1 Bin layout with symbol representation showing dimensions and friction, , is approximated in practice as the filling angle of repose of the
angle of internal friction (repose). (See clauses 1, 4, 5 and 6
for explanation of symbols)
product (see figure 1) and may range from 26 to 36. An average value
is 32.

ASABE STANDARDS 2008 ANSIASAE EP446.3 APR2008 1

 Figure 3 Free body diagrams of bin wall (See clause 4 for explanation of
symbols)

6.1.3 Calculate pressure ratio K a by equation (2)

K a sin2 9032 / sin90 sin90sin32 2 0.3073
Figure 2 Typical measured potato pressure curve with calculated pres- 6.1.4 Calculate pressures
sures, ( p ), for a shallow bin Pressure at depth z by equation (1)
p z 0.3073 x 9.81 x 670 x z
5.4 friction, static, coefficient for surface (): Use values for the 2020z N/m2
static coefficient of friction shown in table 1.
5.5 wall pressure: Potato pressure normal to the bin wall at depth z , 2.02z kN/m2
p ( z ), is given as an equivalent liquid pressure Pressure at bottom of wall, z h
p z Ka m g z (1) p h 2.02 x 4.89.70 kN/m2
The active pressure ratio K a is 6.1.5 Find total lateral force (equation 3):
W p h h /2
sin2
K a 9.70 x 4.8/2
sin sin sin 2 (2)
Figure 2 compares a typical measured pressure loading and an 23.3 kN/m
equivalent liquid pressure loading calculated by equation (1) for a bin.
6.1.6 Find total axial force (equation 4):
For design purposes an empirically derived pressure was based on an
angle of repose of 31.5 and a density of of 670 kg/m3 (42 lbm/ft3). See SW
figure 2.
0.48 23.3
5.6 force, center of (C): The center of force, C , is one third the pile
height, h , from the bottom of the pile (see figure 3). 11.17 kN/m
6.2 Inclined wall:
C h /3
6.2.1 Given:
5.7 force, total lateral (W): Total lateral force, W , is calculated using the
following equation h pile depth4.8 m
H wall height5.4 m
W p h h /2 (3)
C center of force
where p ( h ) equals p ( z ) in equation 1 for z h
h /34.8/31.6 m
5.8 force, total axial (S): The total axial force due to the potatoes, S ,
is calculated using the following equation 75
SW (4)
Table 1 Static coefficients of wall friction for potatoes on various
6 Example calculations surfaces. Averaged for wet and dry potatoes
6.1 Vertical wall:
6.1.1 Given: Surface Coefficient,

h pile depth 4.8 m Steel, corrugated, galvanized (across corrugations) 0.70

H wall height 5.4 m Rough concrete 0.59
C center of force Potatoes 0.57
h /3 4.8/3 1.6 m Plywood (with grain) 0.52
Rubber belting 0.50
90
Smooth concrete 0.48
6.1.2 Assume: Steel, smooth, nongalvanized 0.43
m 670 kg / m 3 Steel, galvanized 0.43
32 Polyethylene sheet 0.39
0.48 (smooth concrete)

2 ANSIASAE EP446.3 APR2008 ASABE STANDARDS 2008

6.2.2 Assume: Pressure at bottom of wall, z h
m 670 kg/m3 p h 1.414 x 4.86.79 kN/m2
32 (70% of the pressure on the vertical wall)
0.48 smooth concrete 6.2.5 Find total lateral force (equation 3):
6.2.3 Calculate pressure ratio K a by equation (2) W p h h /2
K a sin 7532 / sin75 sin75sin32
2 2
6.79 x 4.8/2
0.2152
16.29 kN/m
6.2.4 Calculate pressures
6.2.6 Find total axial force (equation 4):
Pressure at depth z by equation (1)
p z 0.2152 x 9.81 x 670 x z SW

1414z N/m2 0.48 16.29

1.414z kN/m2 7.82 kN/m

Annex A potato storage wall design. Transactions of the ASAE 26(1):179184,

(informative) 187; 1983
Bibliography Schaper, L. A. and E. C. Yaeger. Coefficients of friction of Irish potatoes.
Transactions of the ASAE 35(5):16471651; 1989
The following documents are cited as reference sources used in devel-
opment of this Engineering Practice. Schaper, L. A., K. G. Janardan, E. C. Yaeger and P. H. Orr. Mathematical
expressions for lateral potato pressures. Transactions of the ASAE
Edgar, A. D. Pressure on walls of potato storage bins. USDA, Agricultural 32(3):10751080; 1989
Marketing Service. AMS-401; 1960 Torabi, M. R. Pressure exerted on the walls of large bins by stored
Lambe, T. W. and R. V. Whitman. Soil mechanics. John Wiley and Sons; potatoes. Unpublished M.S. thesis, Washington State University,
1969 Pullman; 1976
Permanent Wood Foundation System Manual. National Forest Products Willson, G. B. Lateral pressures on walls of potato storage bins. USDA,
Association; 1987 Agricultural Research Service. ARS 5232; 1968
Powell, A. E., C. A. Pettibone and M. R. Torabi. Pressure exerted on Yaeger, E. C. and G. L. Pratt. Instrumentation for measurement of lateral
walls of larger bins by stored potatoes. Transactions of the ASAE and vertical pressures in potato storages. Transactions of the ASAE
23(3):685686; 1980 20(6):11801184; 1977
Schaper, L. A. and E. C. Yaeger. Horizontal and vertical pressure Yaeger, E. C., L. A. Schaper and P. H. Orr. Comparison of potato pile
patterns of stored potatoes. Transactions of the ASAE 25(3):719724; pressures on vertical and inclined walls. Transactions of the ASAE
1982 30(6):18111816; 1987
Schaper, L. A. and E. C. Yaeger. Accuracy of equivalent fluid pressure for

ASABE STANDARDS 2008 ANSIASAE EP446.3 APR2008 3