Influence of spacing parameters on the wind loading of solar array

Abstract

Boundary layer wind tunnel tests were conducted to investigate the effects of different spacing parameters on the wind loading of ground and roof mounted solar arrays. On the ground mounted array the effect of lateral and longitudinal spacing between panels was investigated. On the roof mounted array the effect of array perimeter gap from the building edge was investigated. Based on the results obtained, the magnitude of force and moment coefficients on the ground mounted array decreased across panel rows as a result of sheltering effect from the neighboring upwind panels. The largest reduction of wind load coefficients was observed on the second row panels but the amount of reduction dropped quickly afterwards, becoming minimal after the fourth row. It was also observed that panels located in the outer array column could be subjected to relatively higher wind loads compared to panels located in the inner array columns. Increasing the lateral spacing between array columns was observed to have minimal effect on the force and moment coefficients. However, the wind load coefficients increased as the longitudinal spacing between panel rows was increased. The wind load coefficients on the roof mounted array decreased with increasing perimeter gap from the building edge.