Evaluation of Grain Storage Buildings in Konya Province in terms of Current Status and Structural Properties

Abstract

This study was carried out in order to reveal the current status of the grain storage buildings in the Konya province and to evaluate them in terms of their structural and technical characteristics, and the grain storages in the province were evaluated in various categories. The average storage capacity per enterprise is approximately 38.267 tons, and the number of silos per enterprise is 20. Although the capacities of 78% of the flat-bottomed steel silos in the province vary between 2000-3000 tons and the capacities of 67% of the conical-bottomed steel silos vary between 1000-2500 tons, the capacities of 82% of the horizontal concrete storages varies between 2500-4000 tons. Although the storage period is less than 6 months in approximately 23% of the enterprises and more than 24 months in approximately 3% of the enterprises, the storage period varies between 6-12 months in approximately 43% of the enterprises. While the occupancy rates in warehouses can reach up to 100% during the season, the average occupancy rate per business is 37.4%. While the occupancy rate of the warehouses is 0-25% in 12 of the enterprises, the occupancy rate of 9 enterprises varies between 76-100%. Although 93% of the grain storages are ventilated with mechanical ventilation systems, 7% of them do not have a ventilation system. During field studies, it has been observed that ventilation systems are generally insufficient to remove excess heat from respiration and radiation. In addition, in some periods, due to the insufficient ventilation capacity, losses occur in the products due to deterioration and decay. 89.4% of the storage structures have single leaf doors, 6.1% shutters, 1.8% sliding doors, 0.9% double leaf doors and 1.3% industrial sectional doors. Although 89.4% of the storage structures have a conical roof system and 10.1% have a cradle roof system, 0.5% do not have a roof. Trapezoidal galvanized sheet is used as roof material in approximately 80% of storage houses with cradle roofs, and sandwich panels are used in approximately 12%.