Stress-strain response of sheared wheat granular material stored in silos using triaxial compression tests

Wheat granular material stored in silos usually suffers shearing loads, which induces complex stress-strain response during the silo filling and discharging process. In order to guarantee the safe storage of these granular materials, it is necessary to investigate the shearing behaviour of wheat granular material in silos. In this paper, a series of triaxial tests were conducted on wheat granular material by using a modified double cell triaxial system. The stress-strain responses including the volumetric strain behaviour were examined considering the effect of the initial void ratio, confining pressure and shearing velocity. Different shearing states were discussed to obtain their strength parameters in various conditions. The results show that the shearing characteristics of wheat granular material are influenced by the shearing velocity. The friction angles increase with the decreasing void ratio at different states. The final volumetric strain decreases with increasing confining pressure, and the dilation is diminished. The dilatancy behaviour was quantitatively evaluated based on Row’s theory for wheat granular material. The stress-strain relationship of wheat granular material was then determined.