Zaracho, Juan I., Ginger, John D., Holmes, John D., and Henderson, David J. (2025) Wind loading and response of solar tracker arrays. Wind and Structures an International Journal, 40 (4). pp. 251-264.

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Abstract

Understanding the aeroelastic response of solar trackers under high turbulence wind flow is crucial for optimizing their design and performance. This paper presents a wind tunnel study on the aeroelastic response of solar trackers at a 1/20 scale. Three models were tested in a boundary layer wind tunnel under various wind directions (at specific intervals between 0° and 180°) and tilt angles ranging from 0° to 50°. The aerodynamic loads (i.e., moment coefficients) acting on the torque tube were determined, and the aerodynamic response of the models was investigated. The results show that the mean and maximum moments are largest in magnitude for wind directions from 0° to 40° and 140° to 180°. A notable increase in the mean moment coefficient is observed for tilt angles between 0° and 15°, followed by a progressive decrease as the tilt angle increases from 15° to 50°. The aerodynamic derivatives A2∗ and A3∗ were also obtained using a quasi-steady approach. The findings of this study suggest that the wind direction influences the response of the structure; the tilt angle, the natural frequency of the tracker and the stiffness of the torque tube are critical factors in preventing aeroelastic instabilities and should be carefully considered in the design process.

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