Wind load effects on photovoltaic modules

Resumo

Wind loads are a major concern regarding steel structures, which is the case of the photovoltaic modules.
These devices have been studied using different approaches in order to determine their aerodynamic characteristics.
Nevertheless, the argentine regulation in this aspect (CIRSOC 102 Ed. 2005) does not contribute with detailed
specifications for unconventional structures. In order to provide more data about the influence of the photovoltaic
module aerodynamics on its constitutive structural elements, an interdisciplinary approach is presented to define
the aerodynamic properties and the mechanical states of a specific model of the photovoltaic module. In the first
place, the pressure coefficients obtained experimentally in the Wind Tunnel by other authors were used to determine
the most hostile wind loads applied to the studied panel. Secondly, numerical modeling of the type structure in
the physical and geometric nonlinear field was carried out, thus obtaining the natural modes of vibration and the
structural components with critical solicitation.