(NA) Grain bin collapse in Illinois

Jim K

Jim K

360 For Spacing
Management Council Member
PoA Supporter
Joined
Mar 31, 2019
Messages
8,139
Location
Limbo
Display Name
Richard Digits
Home Airfield
KCMI
This has been making the rounds around here, happened about halfway between here and Chicago. I only bring it up because the video is amazing and I thought some of you engineering types would find it as fascinating as I did. Concrete bin full of soybeans, employee notices a crack, area was cleared, shortly after it catastrophically fails. Thankfully no one was injured. You can hear the steel hoops snapping before it lets go. It takes out a power line on the way down, and it looks like the dust might've briefly ignited before the remains of the bin snuffed it out. Extremely fortunate it wasn't much worse. Generally what happens is a small dust explosion knocks loose all the dirt in the facility causing an even bigger boom.

Sorry it's on FB, but this was the best video I could find:
www.facebook.com

845K views · 7.9K reactions | Dramatic video captures the moment a concrete grain bin collapsed in Martinton, Illinois on Wednesday. Several Facebook users posted video that showed a grain bin spilling corn from about halfway up the silo. As it fel

Dramatic video captures the moment a concrete grain bin collapsed in Martinton, Illinois on Wednesday. Several Facebook users posted video that showed a grain bin spilling corn from about halfway...
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com

This is mostly the same video, but they muted the sound so the talking head could tell you about it:
 
I saw that floating around yesterday..

Really lucky those other power lines didn't ignite all the dust. And how in the world did someone notice a crack that far up!? Wow! Lucky folks there for sure.
 
Crazy! Could have been deadly if not caught early or if it happened faster.

I think the flash is the power lines?
 
The early warning came from the expulsive snaps of the reinforcing steel and falling concrete from the outer layer. Rod that large sounds like a high power rifle shot when they break under tension.

That is why we have the video of the failure, as well, taken from a relatively safe distance. Safe from the falling material, but too close if a dust explosion occurred.

Firefighters were at the scene before the slow motion crash.

I agree that the flash was the power line breaking, fortunately just far enough away that the dust was not there yet Also fortunately, the power company fault detecting relays and isolating breaker were fast enough so that the arc was gone before the dust spread.
 
Very interesting. Grain bins fascinate me for some reason.

The youtuber, Destin at Smarter Every Day, does a lot of engineering and physics related videos. He went with his friend to help him erect a grain bin. It's amazing the amount of forces they can contain, especially the metal ones that appear relatively flimsy.
 
There’s a view from the other side I just saw on Reddit. Guys were really close, looked like volly firefighters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top