engleski

A COMPARISON OF MEASURED DATA, CODE AND FLUID-STRUCTURE INTERACTION SIMULATION OF THE WIND FLOW AROUND SOLAR PANELS

Within the initiative concerned with the sustainable energy systems (www.stens.fesb.hr), the 30kW electric power plant based on the grid-connected photovoltaic panels (i.e. solar panels) is planned to be constructed on the campus building. The presented paper is concerned with determining the wind load on the solar panels where specific requirements have to bee met. Main questions pinpointed herein are: what wind velocities should be taken as the basis in calculus, and do the na-tional code or still undeclared Eurocode 1, bring realistic results. Results based on codes, together with on-site measurements, are compared with the numerical model where fluid-structure response is used to simulate realistic conditions and to estimate the wind force coef-ficient for this specific case of solar panel. Over dimensioning the panel carrier frame results in too heavy structure. Such a structure is acceptable to be mounted on the roof that was not constructed to carry the additional equipment. The FEM FSI model enabled designing carrier struc-ture significantly lighter than it will result from classical calculations based on the code. From the presented research it can be concluded that, as the wind flow on a panel with negative inclination is not described by the code, the code is not giving representative results. Therefore a force coefficient for this case has to be modified by the force coefficients evaluated in presented paper. When comparing results obtained by the Eurocode 1 to the still official national code, the Eurocode 1 can be recommended. Considering representative wind velocity, it can be concluded that the Eurocod 1 is giving satis-fying assumptions.

fluid-structure interaction; EUROCODE 1; coupled problem; wind flow

nije evidentirano