Wind loads on solar collectors: A review

Solar collector or photovoltaic (PV) systems placed on building roofs have been used extensively in recent years. These systems are sensitive to wind loading but design standards and codes of practice offer little assistance to the designers regarding provisions for wind-induced loading. The paper reports on a detailed literature survey, which has reviewed and compared the findings of some of the most recent and older experimental and numerical studies carried out for different solar collector system configurations. Results show significant differences among different studies, some of which correspond to similar configurations. Comparisons are made in terms of mean and, if available, peak pressure coefficients for different wind directions. The data are organized separately for solar collectors on flat and pitched roofs. Also the slope of the collector, as well as its location on the roof, has been taken into account. The review explains clearly the lack of design provisions in wind loading standards and codes of practice. It would indeed be very difficult to yield to an acceptable set of design provisions for solar collector and PV systems. The paper concludes that a new comprehensive study would be necessary in order to put together a set of provisions for different configurations including both point and areaaveraged loads. © ASCE 2012.

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