Wind loads on ground-mounted solar panels: A multi-scale computational and experimental study
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
12-1-2013
Abstract
Most boundary layer wind tunnels (BLWT) were built for testing models of large civil engineering structures that have geometric scales ranging from 1:500 to 1:100. However, producing typical aerodynamic models of photo-voltaic (PV) Solar panels at such scales makes the modules too small. Such small test models raises technical problems, especially those related to pressure resolution, interference effects from measuring instruments and falls in uncertain flow regimes close to the tunnel's floor. To alleviate these problems, wind tunnel testing protocols that account for different time and geometric scales will be necessary to permit reasonable assessment of wind loads on the solar panels. In the current paper, a geometric scale effect study is carried out on isolated ground-mounted solar panels. The study investigates systematically the scale effects on the aerodynamic data, through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and BLWT testing. The objective is to produce recommendations on the most practical approach for computational and experimental aerodynamic testing of these types of small structures.
Publication Source (Journal or Book title)
12th Americas Conference on Wind Engineering 2013, ACWE 2013: Wind Effects on Structures, Communities, and Energy Generation
First Page
1014
Last Page
1025
Recommended Citation
Aly, A., Bksuamlak, G., & Crepel, V. (2013). Wind loads on ground-mounted solar panels: A multi-scale computational and experimental study. 12th Americas Conference on Wind Engineering 2013, ACWE 2013: Wind Effects on Structures, Communities, and Energy Generation, 2, 1014-1025. Retrieved from https://repository.lsu.edu/civil_engineering_pubs/501