Western Railroad Discussion > Pictures of grain elevator collapse two days ago

Attached are three pictures of the grain elevator collapse at Oakley, KS, on Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012. Two tall tube-like bins ruptured, spilling about 75,000 bushels of corn. The collapse pushed over eight empty ethanol cars, blocking the Union Pacific Railroad's KP main line. The pictures are courtesy of fellow railfan Mark Springer.

---

---

---

Are those cells 'thinwall concrete'?

Michael McInerney
Marion, South Australia,

The physic of this is awesome! Wonder if they will repair or just go with a smaller facility?

Wow.

Did it collapse or explode? That's a considerable problem with older grain elevators.

No explosion mentioned in any news reports. An explosion probably would have pushed the roof off.

a737flyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did it collapse or explode? That's a considerable
> problem with older grain elevators.


The damage tells the story. It wasn't a explosion as those result from dust in the air and blow out the open parts of the bins (read as top of the bins). This was a obvious gravity blow-out. The base of the bins blew out and the incredible suction of the falling grain sucked in the top of the bin.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

a737flyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Did it collapse or explode? That's a considerable
> problem with older grain elevators.


The phenomenon is referred to as silo honking/sticking/slip-stick failure

Wherein massive amounts of a material like grain or
rock salt will shift quickly when the material below it is
drawn down quickly leaving a void that will be visited
by the grain above by gravity and no silo wall that is not
made of highly reinforced thick concrete can tolerate massive
blow of the grain pushing against it in just a second or two.

Lokk for silo collapses on google or you tube and you can see
how it happens in the A.O. Smith Harvestores too.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/12 14:23 by leonz.

Not necessarily a blow out. All of the older style elevators are approaching 60+ years of age and the concrete has not only hit its peak but now because of painting the elevators for over 50 years alot of moisture has been trapped in the cracks and expansion contraction has taken its tole on the now old and decaying concrete. The concrete in the walls of each silo is approximately 6 inches thick. Many of elevators here in western Kansas have been in the process of removing most of the base of the elevator and repairing/replacing the lower concrete to prevent accidents like this. Alot of work too has been taking place to remove and repair the cracked areas with new concrete or "extreme patching." However there is alot of ground to cover with hundreds of elevators scattered about. Unfortunately that's the life of concrete when it hits 50 its downhill after that. A couple of years ago in Russell Kansas there was a deadly accident with an elevator of he same model on the same corner, only that accident was tragic as two elevator employees where killed on the ground. The entire elevator has been torn down and a newer silo type has replaced it. Kinda sad to see the old Kansas skyscrapers getting old. SO when you drive thru Kansas or any of the plane states take note, they wont be here forever! Just my $.02 as a life long Kansan.

Thanks for the report--I was wondering what led to the "catastrophic failure".