Wind Loads on Solar Panels

Dr. David Banks

CPP Wind Engineering
Colorado

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS
Its right twice a day.

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Guesswork wind loads

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

The consequences of under-design
3 second gust wind speed, mph
140 3.5

actual GCp / expected GCp

120 3
100 2.5
80 2
60 1.5
40 1
20 0.5
0 0
1 10 100 1000
N: mean recurrence interval in years

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Dynamic effects

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Dynamic effects

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Ground Mounts:
fixed tilt, trackers, concentrators, etc

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Flush Mounts

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Flush Mounts

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Tilted flat panels on a flat roof

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Corner Vortices

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Corner Vortex

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Mitigation

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS
(in)Appropriate testing methods

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Computation Fluid Dynamics

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Risk of Failure increased by:

Parapets
Roof mounted equipment
Slippery surface
Larger, taller buildings
Strong NW or NE winds
Installation error

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Typical vortex loads

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Typical vortex loads

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

Take the guesswork out.

WIND ENGINEERING AND AIR QUALITY CONSULTANTS

WREF
Panels in the Wind - Panel Discussion

May 14, 2012

Ron LaPlante, Senior Structural Engineer

Division of State Architect:
DSA has authority for plan review
and supervision of construction
for:
K-12, CC, Essential Service
Facilities

2
Solar Arrays on Schools:

Parking Garages
Flat Roofs
Sloped
Roofs

Carports Ground Mount

3
What design wind loading is applicable?
ASCE 7

What about
other
installations?

4
What design wind loading should be enforced if not
covered in ASCE 7 prescriptive methods?
ASCE 7
Wind Tunnel Study
Whats an
appropriate wind
tunnel study?

Should the WTP be

peer reviewed?
ASCE 7 WTP is written Does building need to
for specific building Roof zoning?
be modeled?
modeling, not
generalized buildings Etc Is there a minimum
with solar panels. wind load?
5
Current efforts to bridge the gaps:
SEAOC Wind Committee - Developing figure
for wind loads on tilted solar panels on flat roofs
Solar ABCs Technical papers to guide
engineers.
Technical Papers describe proper wind
tunnel studies, CFD use, etc.
Wind tunnel studies on going, specific to
each manufacturer
ASCE 49 Wind Tunnel Testing for Buildings
and Other Structures promote consistency
6
Where do we go from here?

CBC Amendments
Current (2013?)
Efforts
SEAOC Wind
Committee
Solar ABC ASCE 7 IBC
Technical (2016?) (2018?)
Papers
Wind Tunnel
Studies
ASCE 49

7
 Renusol America, Inc.
CPP - Renusol CS60 Wind Tunnel tests
Bart Leusink President & CEO

1
 Renusol CS60

2
 ASCE 7-05 Method 1 - Wind Load Zones (Flat Roof)

3
 ASCE 7-05 Method 1 - Examples

4
 10 Degrees

5
 20 Degrees

6
 30 Degrees

7
 40 Degrees

8
 50 Degrees

9
 60 Degrees

10
 70 Degrees

11
 90 Degrees

12
 110 Degrees

13
 130 Degrees

14
 140 Degrees

15
 150 Degrees

16
 160 Degrees

17
 170 Degrees

18
 NE Wind Direction Worst-Case Each Panel

19
 SE Wind Direction Worst-Case Each Panel

20
 Renusol CS60 Wind Load Load Zones (ASCE7-05 Method 3)

= equivalent to height of building

21
 Renusol CS60 - Examples Different Building Sizes

22
 ASCE 7-05 Method 1 and 3 Comparison

23
 The Renusol CS60 System
The system is designed as a modular system: 1 Renusol CS60 = 1 panel, making it easy
for budgeting and estimation purposes.

Ballast in the high load, corner zones can further be reduced by adding strut as a
North-South connection.

This makes the Renusol CS60 system extremely flexible and cost efficient, we can add
rigidity and strength where needed (the high load corner zones), but eliminate the cost
of components and installation labor where it is not needed. These saving become
even more prevalent on very large projects (multi-MW size)
Renusol CS60 Roof Zones and Ballasts

CORRELATION BETWEEN BUILDING SIZE AND WIND LOAD ZONES ON THE ROOF

= Area where strut would be applied to add strength and reduce ballast weights
Adding North-South Connections When and Where needed
 Renusol CS60 MD Project

27
 Renusol CS60 Hollywood, CA

28
 Renusol CS60 CA Project

29
Current Practices
Wind Load Estimates for PV Arrays

Colleen OBrien, P.E.

Principal Engineer
BEW Engineering, A DNV Company
 Current Practices for Estimating Wind Loads on PV Arrays
Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ) Requirements
- PE stamped electrical drawings always required;
- PE stamped structural drawings not always required
- Insufficient detail in most structural drawings
- Lenders require independent engineer review in addition to AHJ approval

Codes
- Most SEs use ASCE, some use IBC

Current Practices
- Apply code directly, or
- Apply combination of code and wind tunnel data
- Proposed future practice free online DNV Wind Load Calculator

DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

 Current Practices for Estimating Wind Loads on PV Arrays

Use of Code

- All System Types

- SE analysis omits analysis of many structural components fasteners, modules,
small components in structure
- Static analyses only - out of hundreds of reviewed projects, one provided a
dynamic analysis

- Ground-Mounted
- Most SEs use ASCE Open Buildings, Main Wind Force Resisting System,
Monoslope Roof (probably best)
- Some have used ASCE tables for signs (wrong)
- Often calcs cover only static load analyses on posts / piers no other
components (struts, gear/motor, modules, hardware, welds..?)
- SEs regularly rely on manufacturers data with little or no review
- Many structures have a low natural frequency (<1 Hz to 2 Hz) could be
vulnerable to resonance

DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

 Current Practices for Estimating Wind Loads on PV Arrays
Use of Code

- Roof-Mounted
- Many SEs base calculations on Open Buildings - neglects impact of walls,
significant roof edge vortices
- Most base calculations on Enclosed Buildings, using tables for the slope of the
roof
- Most use tables for components and cladding, even for large structures
- Wide variety of approaches to determine GCpi (internal pressure coefficient)

DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

 Current Practices for Estimating Wind Loads on PV Arrays
Reliance on Wind Tunnel Testing
- Compliance with ASCE
- Many manufacturers wind tunnel tests dont comply with ASCE 6.6 (Method 3) requirements
- Non-compliant tests often done by well-known and respected aerospace wind tunnels
- Biggest issues
- Roof-mounted systems - building was not included in the model (violates 6.6.2.2,
surrounding structures in model must be similar to full-scale)
- Boundary layer not modeled, often in full- or large-scale tests (violates 6.6.2.1, must
model boundary layer)
- Tested geometry not similar to installed geometry significantly different tilt, row spacing;
very small subarrays (1-3 modules) not part of a large array (violates 6.6.2.2, surrounding
structures in model must be similar to full-scale)

- Dynamic effects typically not evaluated

- Ballasted PV Systems
- Often installed on single ply roof membranes that can be subject to billowing not part of
wind tunnel test or design practices

DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

 NEW Practice for Estimating Wind Loads on PV Arrays
DNV Wind Load Calculator
- For sloped arrays on flat roofs
- Based on wind tunnel data and ASCE 7-05
- Featured in Solar Pro June/July 2012 Issue
- Free spreadsheet available online
- http://www.dnv.com/industry/energy/segments/solar_energy/index.asp
What it does
- Calculates ASCE velocity pressure qz based on inputs describing building (same
as ASCE)
- Incorporates pressure coefficients from wind tunnel testing instead of ASCE Cp,
GCp, Gcpi values for buildings
- Larger corner / edge regions (2h)
- Accounts for higher relative loads at edges of arrays
- Accounts for shielding of interior array regions
- Accounts for effects of parapet and rooftop objects

DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

 DNV Wind Load Calculator Comparison to ASCE

ASCE Corner Zone 36 psf

ASCE Edge Zone 22 psf ASCE pressures apply regardless
of parapet height and array
ASCE Middle Zone 20 psf location (north row, interior, etc.)

DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

 DNV Wind Load Calculator Results
North Row,
Corner of
Roof
North Row,
Edge of Roof

North Row,
Middle of
Roof

Accelerated Flow Region

Around HVAC Unit
Comparison of Results
Roof Zone 1
South Row, Array
Method Array Zone
1 (Middle) 2 (Edge) 3 (Corner) Edge of Interior,
ASCE None -19.9 -21.8 -36.3
Interior 11.0 16.0 22.0 Roof West Array Edge of
DNV
Perimeter ("East / West / South")
Back Row ("North")
16.0
22.0
23.0
31.0
32.0
43.0
Perimeter, Roof
Accelerated Flow Region -31.1 -44.9 -62.2 Middle of Roof
DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.

 Thank You!

colleen.obrien@dnv.com

DNV Cleaner Energy San Francisco

Det Norske Veritas AS. All rights reserved.