Wind effects on roof-mounted solar photovoltaic arrays: CFD and wind-tunnel evaluation

Abstract

Numerical calculations of wind loads on solar photovoltaic collectors were used to estimate drag, lift and overturning moments on different collector support systems. These results were compared with direct force measurement tests obtained during wind tunnel experiments. The numerical procedure employed k-epsilon, RNG and k-omega turbulence closures to predict loads. The RNG and k-omega model approaches produced reasonable agreement with measured loads, whereas the k-epsilon model failed to replicate measurements. Numerically generated particle path lines about the model collectors strongly resembled wind- tunnel smoke visualization observations.