Dynamic Effects of a Heliostat to Wind Loading

Abstract This paper presents a methodology for evaluating dynamic wind load effects on a heliostat. A 1:50 scale pressure model of the heliostat is examined in a boundary layer wind tunnel. The model is instrumented with 58 pressure taps, with sufficient resolution to capture the abrupt spatial and temporal changes in wind forcing due to the turbulent nature of the wind. Time histories of generalized forces are generated from the wind tunnel data, in combination with structural modal analysis and a wind climate model of the site. Critical load effects are examined in order to develop pressure distributions for detailed stress analysis of selected structural elements. The analysis provides optimized loading distributions which are found to be considerably lower than Eurocode estimations for global uplift and drag forcing, with favorable and unfavorable implications in the design of individual structural components.