Mean wind forces on parabolic-trough solar collectors

Technical Report · Thu May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5275459· OSTI ID:5275459

Peterka, J. A.; Sinau, J. M.; Cermak, J. E.

The purpose of this study was to investigate characteristics of mean wind loads produced by airflow in and around several configurations of parabolic trough solar collectors with and without a wind fence. Four basic parabolic shapes were investigated as single units and one shape was studied as part of several array fields. One 1:25 scale model of each parabolic shape was constructed for mounting on a force balance to measure two forces and three moments. The effects of several dominant variables were investigated in this study: wind-azimuth (or yaw), trough elevation (or pitch) angle, array field configuration, and protective wind fence characteristics. All measurements were made in a boundary-layer flow developed by the meteorological wind tunnel at the Fluid Dynamics and Diffusion Laboratory of Colorado State University. Results are presented and discussed. (WHK)

• Research Organization: General Electric Co., St. Petersburg, FL (USA). Neutron Devices Dept.
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-76DP00789
• OSTI ID: 5275459
• Report Number(s): SAND-80-7023
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140703 -- Solar Thermal Power Systems-- Distributed Collector
141000* -- Solar Collectors & Concentrators
AERODYNAMICS
BOUNDARY LAYERS
CONCENTRATING COLLECTORS
CONFIGURATION
DATA
DATA FORMS
DISTRIBUTED COLLECTOR POWER PLANTS
DYNAMIC LOADS
EQUIPMENT
FLUID MECHANICS
GRAPHS
INCLINATION
INFORMATION
LAYERS
MECHANICS
ORIENTATION
PARABOLIC COLLECTORS
PARABOLIC TROUGH COLLECTORS
POWER PLANTS
SCALE MODELS
SOLAR COLLECTORS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT
SOLAR POWER PLANTS
SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS
STRUCTURAL MODELS
TABLES
TUNNELS
TURBULENCE
VELOCITY
WIND LOADS
WIND TUNNELS