Hundreds of industrial and farm silos, bins and hoppers experience some degree of failure each year due to improper design, faulty construction, and/or erratic operation.
Although failure may involve a catastrophic collapse of the structure, it can also display in less obvious forms, such as cracks in a concrete wall, wrinkles/dents in a steel shell, and/or bending/deflection of a support beam. Even these more “minor” issues can be important danger signals, indicating that corrective measures are probably required.