Numerical study of wind forces on parabolic solar collectors

Matthew K. Zemler, Greg Bohl, Oziel Rios and Sandra K.S. Boetcher

Renewable Energy, 2013, vol. 60, issue C, 498-505

Abstract: Concentrated solar power is an established technology for megawatt-scale power generation. Recent advances in lower-cost and lighter materials have made kilowatt-scale concentrated solar power applications feasible. Despite the importance of designing support structures for solar collectors, very little reliable work has been done to investigate the forces of the wind on parabolic solar collectors. In the present study, two-dimensional numerical turbulent flow simulations around parabolic solar collectors are performed. Force and torque data are presented for several collector orientations and for wind speeds 8.9 m/s (20 mph) ≤V≤ 49.2 m/s (110 mph). The aperture width of the parabola, which corresponds to aperture widths used for kilowatt-scale as well as some megawatt-scale applications, is also varied from 1.2 m (4 ft) ≤a≤3.7 m (12 ft).

Keywords: Concentrated solar power; Wind forces; Computational fluid dynamics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148113002681
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:60:y:2013:i:c:p:498-505

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2013.05.023

Access Statistics for this article

Renewable Energy is currently edited by Soteris A. Kalogirou and Paul Christodoulides

More articles in Renewable Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().