Ring Stockpiles

Ring Stockpiles

Ring-shaped stockpiles are normally stored inside a covered dome due to environmental concerns. A slewing stacker at the center stacks the material and creates the pile, while a bridge or a portal rake reclaims the material from a face of the pile. Limestone, clay, marl, coal, wood chips, fertilizers, sulfur and many other materials are stored in automated ring piles.

Covering Raw Material

Geometrica geodesic domes have been built over piles of 140m diameter. It is feasible to span domes up to 300m. Typically, a dome for this application will need to cover an additional 3 to 6m width area around the base circumference of the pile for reclaimer clearance and circulation of maintenance personnel or small vehicles. Thus, the diameter of a dome for this application is usually 6 to 12m more than the pile's diameter. The dome's height is normally set at about 1/3 of the diameter for efficiency, but may be substantially lower or higher if desired.

Geodesic domes for ring piles also need to clear the reclaimer at its highest point near the perimeter of the stockpile, as well as provide a minimum height for the vehicles in the free area around the material. Instead of using an expensive vertical wall to achieve this, Geometrica can supply domes with elliptical or compound parabolic profiles that have a steep slope near the perimeter, as shown here.

Such geometries provide the necessary clearance and achieve additional savings compared to conventional framed buildings or domes with plain circular cross section.

Sometimes a concrete wall is required to contain the material in order to limit the footprint of the pile. A Geometrica dome can easily be supported at the top of such wall much more efficiently than building a concrete dome.

A Proven System

Geometrica is the industry leader in domes for automated ring piles, having provided the majority and the largest domes in the world for this application. The links below provide more information about bulk storage solutions.