Reconciling Heliostat and Solar Panel Wind Loads To Develop a Reduced-Order Model for Heliostat Wind Loads

Summary

The challenge addressed is the complex task of accurately determining wind loads on heliostats for structural design, which requires a method to reconcile existing solar PV panel standards with heliostat-specific characteristics. The approach involves developing a reduced-order model for heliostat wind loads by distilling and applying correlations and relationships from published literature on wind loads for both solar PV panels and heliostat facets. This technical report summarizes the completed research, providing a framework for structural engineers and heliostat designers to determine wind loads based on geometric similarities, pressure distributions, dynamic load analysis, and turbulence correlations.

Key Facts

Source Document

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