Abstract
Design of solar energy mounting systems requires more knowledge on the wind patterns around these systems. To obtain more insight in the flow patterns, which cause the pressure distributions on the solar energy systems, a wind tunnel test and Computational Fluid Dynamics analysis have been performed. In this study the average pressure coefficients, determined in the wind tunnel measurements, are compared with Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes calculations. The comparison, based on the median of all observations over 6 wind directions and all pressure points, showed that the general pressure distribution is well predicted. Overall differences were found of 39% for the Renormalization Group k-e turbulence model, 35% for a differential Reynolds Stress turbulence model with wall reflection term and 35% for a differential Reynolds Stress turbulence model without wall reflection term. The largest differences are observed in the wake of systems that have a large spacing, which is due to an incorrect prediction of the separation zones and therefore the shielding effect of the solar energy systems.
| Original language | English |
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| Title of host publication | 5th International Symposium on Computational Wind Engineering, 23-27 May 2010, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA |
| Pages | 8- |
| Publication status | Published - 2010 |
| Event | conference; Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010); 2010-05-23; 2010-05-27 - Duration: 23 May 2010 → 27 May 2010 |
Conference
| Conference | conference; Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010); 2010-05-23; 2010-05-27 |
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| Period | 23/05/10 → 27/05/10 |
| Other | Computational Wind Engineering (CWE2010) |