Bulk Solids, Mining, Aggregates & Material Processing worked example

Silo Capacity at 99% silo availability: a worked example

Push silo availability up to 99% and the picture changes. This example computes every intermediate figure at that operating point. a plant team is reviewing silo capacity for bulk solids, mining, aggregates, and material processing and needs a clear silo capacity for production, quality, capacity, maintenance, purchasing, or costing decisions

The inputs for this scenario

  • Tons handled per fill-discharge cycle: 18 tons / cycle (unchanged)
  • Fill-discharge cycles available in the period: 240 cycles (unchanged)
  • Silo availability (uptime): 99 % (raised for this scenario; the documented default is 90)
  • First-pass discharge yield (no bridging or rathole loss): 96 % (unchanged)

Working through the calculation

  • Applying the documented formula (Gross silo capacity = silo capacity output per cycle × available silo capacity cycles) to the inputs above produces each figure below.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 4,106 tons for silo capacity, the number this scenario is built around.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 4,320 tons for gross silo capacity.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 43.2 tons for silo capacity uptime loss.
  • At this operating point the engine returns 171 tons for silo capacity yield loss.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where silo availability sits at 90% and the headline result is 3,732 tons, this scenario comes in 10% above the baseline at 4,106 tons.
  • It multiplies tons per fill-discharge cycle by available cycles for a gross figure, then derates by silo availability and first-pass discharge yield to give net usable throughput. The value of this scenario is the size of the gap it exposes: that gap, priced out over a year, is the budget you can justify spending to close it.

Results at a glance

  • Silo Capacity: 4,106 tons (headline result)
  • Gross silo capacity: 4,320 tons
  • Silo Capacity uptime loss: 43.2 tons
  • Silo Capacity yield loss: 171 tons

Run it with your numbers

  • Every input above is editable in the live Silo Capacity calculator, which recalculates instantly and can be shared with the inputs intact.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.