Wind Loads Acting on Solar Panels in a Row by CFD Analysis

Wind loads acting on ground mounted solar panels are studied by computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis. In order to investigate wind loads acting on these panels, steady state SST k- turbulence model is considered in CFD analyses undertaken in this study. 2D and 3D numerical models are considered in the verification studies to assess the accuracy of the employed methods with respect to available data in the literature. Then, 2D CFD analysis is chosen due to significant reduction in number of meshes, where this results into more robust and still reliable wind simulations with regards to assessing wind flow and its effects throughout consecutively placed ground mounted solar panels. Solar panels are placed in a row, where the influence of the forward and reverse wind flow, panel length, clear height from the ground, spacing between consecutive panels and tilt angle is parametrically studied.