Experimental evaluation of wind loads on a ground-mounted solar panel of various ground clearances and Reynolds numbers

Abstract

The wind loads on a stand-alone solar panel and flow field behind the panel were experimentally investigated in a wind tunnel under the influence of ground clearance and Reynolds number. The experiments were carried out at the chord Reynolds number of 6.4x10(4), 9.6x10(4), and 1.3x10(5) encompassing turbulent flows and dimensionless ground clearance of 0, 0.5 and 0.6. The velocity and turbulence intensities were measured by a constant-temperature hot wire anemometer, and a pressure scanner system was used to static pressure measurements. It was found that the wind loads on the solar panel increased with ground clearance, while changed within a range of the uncertainties of the method with Reynolds number. So, the design-relevant wind loads were independent of the Reynolds number for the present test configurations, but they were significantly affected by the ground clearance. The velocity profiles demonstrated that the length of the recirculation region behind the panel increased with the reduction of the ground clearance, while decreased from the middle of the panel to the near edges, which is consistent with the pressure measurements.