Title:	Effects of Wind Load on the Mechanics of a PV Power Plant
Author(s):	P. Romer, K.B. Pethani, A.J. Beinert
Keywords:	Simulation, FEM, PV Module, Wind, CFD
Topic:	Photovoltaic Modules and BoS Components
Subtopic:	Materials for PV Modules, Durability, Reliability and Accelerated Testing Methods
Event:	8th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion
Session:	3DV.3.27
Pages:	924 - 929
ISBN:	3-936338-86-8
Paper DOI:	10.4229/WCPEC-82022-3DV.3.27
Price:	0,00 EUR
Document(s):	paper

Abstract/Summary:

---

In contrast to the IEC 61215, in real life applications PV modules must withstand inhomogeneous load distributions, for example caused by wind. This work investigates the wind effects onto a PV power plant, containing ten rows with 40 modules each, using computational fluid dynamics simulations coupled to a mechanical finite element method model. The paper focuses on the impact of three factors on the mechanical stability of a PV power plant, namely: Module orientation, wind direction and module inclination angle. A crosswind scenario is found to be most critical. Furthermore, higher module inclination angles result in higher stresses. Finally, general thermomechanical rules are extracted allowing for a deeper understanding of the underlying effects, and therefore help to build more robust PV module installations in the future.