Review of models for predicting the discharge rates of bulk particulates from silos and bins

Various models for predicting discharge rates have been developed over the last four decades by many research workers (notably Beverloo [1], Johanson [2], Brown [3], Carleton [4], Crewdson [5], Nedderman [6], Gu [7].). In many cases these models offer comparable approaches to the prediction of discharge rates of bulk particulates from storage equipment when solely gravity is acting to initiate flow (since they invariably consider the use of mass-flow design equipment). The models that have been developed consider a wide range of bulk particulates (coarse, incompressible, fine, cohesive) and most contemporary works have incorporated validation against test programmes. Research currently underway at The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology, University of Greenwich, has considered the relative performance of these models with respect to a range of bulk properties and with particular focus upon the flexibility of the models to cater for different geometrical factors for vessels.

Computer Museum, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich

Computer equipment, once viewed as leading edge, is quickly condemned as obsolete and banished to basement store rooms or rubbish bins. The magpie instincts of some of the academics and technicians at the University of Greenwich, London, preserved some such relics in cluttered offices and garages to the dismay of colleagues and partners. When the University moved into its new campus in the historic buildings of the Old Royal Naval College in the center of Greenwich, corridor space in King William Court provided an opportunity to display some of this equipment so that students could see these objects and gain a more vivid appreciation of their subject's history.