The application of silo centrifuge testing

Common problems of industrial silo design can be solved with the use of the Jenike method. The Jenike method is an established procedure to investigate the critical outlet dimensions of a silo and the flow profile. However, in some cases the Jenike method is assumed to lead to overdesign, especially when silo design is calculated for highly dispersed bulk solids in the nano range or if the bulk solid contains moisture. Another way to determine the critical outlet dimension of a silo is a model test. We then have to consider the boundary conditions, i.e. the particle size, and a possible size reduction of the model silo, which is only possible in a centrifugal field using cohesive bulk solids. In this work, results of experiments in a silo centrifuge regarding scale-up are presented. The experiments have been performed to investigate the critical outlet dimension for a silo for very fine and moist bulk solids.