The relationship of wind structure to wind loading
Wind profiles and velocity distributions, and ground roughness effect on boundary layer.
BOUNDARY LAYER↗
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Reconciling Heliostat and Solar Panel Wind Loads To Develop a Reduced-Order Model for Heliostat Wind Loads
This work has been carried out as part of the HelioCon Field Deployment subtask, with the aim to distill published literature in papers and standards on heliostat and solar panel wind loads to develop a reduced order model for heliostat wind loads. It is intended to be understood and applied by structural engineers and heliostat designers as inputs to determine wind loads on heliostats due to the underlying derivations and factors that influence the complex structural dynamics and wind-induced behavior of heliostats.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Studying Wind Loading on CSP Collectors to Improve Performance and Reliability
Electricity generation through Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (CSP) adds the advantage of thermal energy storage and heat production. CSP collector costs constitute nearly one-third of total plant costs. Managing wind loading, especially dynamic wind loading caused by the turbulent wind flow, is a significant design challenge. Traditional collector designs rely on wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations, which do not fully capture dynamic effects. Here, we provide an overview of NREL's activities on wind loading on CSP collectors, aiming to improve their reliability and cost-efficiency. We present insights from field measurements at operational parabolic trough and power-tower CSP plants. Over two years, we measured turbulent wind fields and resulting structural loads in a parabolic trough plant, revealing wind, turbulence, and collector field interactions. Similar measurements are ongoing at the Crescent Dunes heliostat field. These campaigns show how atmospheric turbulence, wind direction, and collector orientation affect dynamic wind loading. Upwind collector structures can generate turbulent structures, causing fluctuating loads at downstream collectors, impacting fatigue lifetime and optical efficiency. Preliminary results indicate that interior collectors experience higher turning moments than those at the edges, suggesting higher drive wear. At Crescent Dunes, we use instrumented heliostats at the field's edge and interior to study the translation of turbulent wind to dynamic structural loads. The campaign is still ongoing, and we will present first findings. Another focus of our work is tying the experimental wind loading findings to optical performance of the collectors, using simulation tools. For example, we derive torsional errors of the parabolic troughs - the angular offset from the sun position along a collector row. This error is impacted by wind-induced mirror deformations. Future work will focus on continuing the measurement efforts and combining them with computational fluid dynamic simulations. By providing detailed field measurements and validated models, our efforts aim to enhance understanding of wind loading on CSP collectors, improving their structural integrity and optical performance.
CSP↗
Simulation of probabilistic wind loads and building analysis
Probabilistic wind loads likely to occur on a structure during its design life are predicted. Described here is a suitable multifactor interactive equation (MFIE) model and its use in the Composite Load Spectra (CLS) computer program to simulate the wind pressure cumulative distribution functions on four sides of a building. The simulated probabilistic wind pressure load was applied to a building frame, and cumulative distribution functions of sway displacements and reliability against overturning were obtained using NESSUS (Numerical Evaluation of Stochastic Structure Under Stress), a stochastic finite element computer code. The geometry of the building and the properties of building members were also considered as random in the NESSUS analysis. The uncertainties of wind pressure, building geometry, and member section property were qualified in terms of their respective sensitivities on the structural response.
Shah, Ashwin R.↗
Measurement of Wind Loading on Heliostats at the Crescent Dunes Power Plant: An Overview
The cost of solar collectors constitutes almost one third of the total cost of a CSP plant. One of the ongoing challenges in the design of these collectors is wind loading on mirrors, support structures, and drives. A particular challenge is dynamic wind loading, caused by the turbulent wind flow. To date, the design of solar collector structures has relied on wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulations that do not entirely capture the dynamic effects observed at scale. The CSP industry has shown increased interest in validating the idealized assumptions with measurements obtained in operational settings to improve wind load assumptions and increase reliability and cost-efficiency of the collector design. Further, performance models need realistic assumptions about wind loading and its impact on optical performance. In a parabolic trough field campaign, NREL successfully collected a wealth of long-term, high-resolution wind and loads data [2], that are publicly available and that can be used for the above-mentioned purposes. Heliostats are impacted differently by wind than parabolic troughs, due to their different shape, size, and field layout. To study the impact of wind and turbulence on heliostats, we initiated another field campaign in an operational power- tower plant, Crescent Dunes, in Nevada, USA. In this work, we present an overview of the measurements, first results, and potential implications of wind driven loads on Heliostats.
concentrated solar power↗
Summary of Langley wind-tunnel studies of ground wind loads on launch vehicles
Transonic wind tunnel study of ground wind loads on Saturn V and other launch vehicle configurations
SATURN V LAUNCH VEHICLE↗
Some sources of ground-wind loads in launch vehicles
Ground wind loads in launch vehicles
WIND PRESSURE↗
Wind models for the NSTS ascent trajectory biasing for wind load alleviation
New concepts are presented for aerospace vehicle ascent wind profile biasing. The purpose for wind biasing the ascent trajectory is to provide ascent wind loads relief and thus decrease the probability for launch delays due to wind loads exceeding critical limits. Wind biasing trajectories to the profile of monthly mean winds have been widely used for this purpose. The wind profile models presented give additional alternatives for wind biased trajectories. They are derived from the properties of the bivariate normal probability function using the available wind statistical parameters for the launch site. The analytical expressions are presented to permit generalizations. Specific examples are given to illustrate the procedures. The wind profile models can be used to establish the ascent trajectory steering commands to guide the vehicle through the first stage. For the National Space Transportation System (NSTS) program these steering commands are called I-loads.
Smith, O. E.↗
Wind models for the NSTS ascent trajectory biasing for wind load alleviation
New concepts are presented for aerospace vehicle ascent wind profile biasing. The purpose for wind biasing the ascent trajectory is to provide ascent wind loads relief and thus decrease the probability for launch delays due to wind loads exceeding critical limits. Wind biasing trajectories to the the profile of monthly mean winds have been widely used for this purpose. The wind profile models presented give additional alternatives for wind biased trajectories. They are derived from the properties of the bivariate normal probability function using the available wind statistical parameters for the launch site. The analytical expressions are presented to permit generalizations. Specific examples are given to illustrate the procedures. The wind profile models can be used to establish the ascent trajectory steering commands to guide the vehicle through the first stage. For the National Space Transportation System (NSTS) program these steering commands are called I-loads.
Smith, O. E.↗
Investigation of Atmospheric Boundary-Layer Effects on Launch-Vehicle Ground Wind Loads
A launch vehicle ground-wind-loads program is underway at the NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. The objectives are to quantify key aerodynamic and structural characteristics that impact the occurrence of large wind-induced oscillations of a launch vehicle when exposed to ground winds prior to launch. Of particular interest is the dynamic response of a launch vehicle when a von Kármán vortex street forms in the wake of the vehicle resulting in quasiperiodic lift and drag forces. Vehicle response to these quasiperiodic forces can become quite large when the frequency of vortex shedding nears that of a lowly-damped structural mode thereby exciting a resonant response. Wind approaching the vehicle can be characterized by a varying speed with height and turbulence content. The combination of both the varying speed and turbulence content is referred to herein as the atmospheric boundary-layer. The importance of the atmospheric boundary-layer upon launch vehicle wind-induced oscillation response has long been questioned, and its effects are not well understood. Although there are several facilities around the world dedicated to replicating atmospheric boundary layers, the development of such a boundary layer in a wind tunnel capable of producing flight-representative Reynolds numbers for aeroelastically-scaled launch vehicle models has only recently been accomplished. The NASA Langley Transonic Dynamics Tunnel is capable of simulating flight-representative Reynolds numbers of launch vehicles on the pad and is uniquely capable of replicating many fluid-structure scaling parameters typical of aeroelastic tests. Recent test efforts successfully developed representative atmospheric boundary-layers for three launch sites in the Transonic Dynamics Tunnel, thereby allowing all known aerodynamic and fluid-structure coupling parameters to be simultaneously simulated for those sites. Dynamic aeroelastically-scaled models representative of typical large launch vehicles were constructed for testing. Aeroelastic scaling includes matching geometry, mode shapes, reduced frequencies, damping, running mass ratios, and running stiffness ratios. The models were tested in smooth uniform flow and then immersed in the atmospheric boundary-layer for comparison of these effects. Dynamic data were acquired measuring unsteady pressure, acceleration, and base bending moment. It was discovered that peak dynamic loads resulting from resonant wind-induced oscillation response are similar when acquired in either smooth uniform flow or an atmospheric boundary-layer. This indicates that resonant lock-in events are minimally impacted by representative turbulence and/or wind profile. Alternately, nonresonant wind-induced oscillation response events are stronger when acquired in an atmospheric boundary-layer. This indicates that a lowly-damped structural response will increase when exposed to an increased magnitude of random excitation, which is consistent with historical comparisons. Loads created by the resonant response events were substantially stronger than those from the nonresonant response events. Therefore, if testing is done to simply identify worst-case conditions and load magnitude, then smooth uniform flow is likely an adequate test technique. However, if nonresonant response loads are of primary interest, then atmospheric boundary-layer simulation is required.
Thomas G Ivanco↗
Wind loads on flat plate photovoltaic array fields (nonsteady winds)
Techniques to predict the dynamic response and the structural dynamic loads of flat plate photovoltaic arrays due to wind turbulence were analyzed. Guidelines for use in predicting the turbulent portion of the wind loading on future similar arrays are presented. The dynamic response and the loads dynamic magnification factor of the two array configurations are similar. The magnification factors at a mid chord and outer chord location on the array illustrated and at four points on the chord are shown. The wind tunnel test experimental rms pressure coefficient on which magnification factors are based is shown. It is found that the largest response and dynamic magnification factor occur at a mid chord location on an array and near the trailing edge. A technique employing these magnification factors and the wind tunnel test rms fluctuating pressure coefficients to calculate design pressure loads due to wind turbulence is presented.
Miller, R. D.↗
Improved Techniques for Measuring Static Ground Wind Loads on the NASA Space Launch System Mobile Launcher 2
Vertical distribution of static ground wind loads was directly measured on Mobile Launcher ground support hardware to the NASA Space Launch System (SLS) at 1.75% scale in the Langley Research Center 14- by 22-Foot Subsonic Tunnel. Low-speed wind tunnel testing in the liftoff phase of flight was conducted for the SLS Block 1B family of rockets with their associated ground support systems. Improved methods for measuring and estimating static ground wind loads on the launch tower assembly are introduced in detail. A novel, distributed loads measurement technique is introduced and compared against lower-fidelity, previously utilized methods.
Ground Wind Loads↗
Wind-tunnel studies of ground-wind loads on Saturn launch vehicles.
Transonic wind tunnel studies of ground-wind loads on aeroelastic models of Saturn launch vehicle, investigating structural damping, wind velocity and azimuth angle
TRANSONIC WIND TUNNEL↗
Wind-tunnel studies of ground-wind loads on Saturn launch vehicles.
Transonic wind tunnel studies of ground-wind loads on aeroelastic models of Saturn launch vehicle, investigating structural damping, wind velocity and azimuth angle
WIND TUNNEL MODEL↗
Wind Loading on CSP Collectors
The project significantly enhanced the community's understanding of the fundamental physics drivers underlying the wind-loading experienced by concentrating solar power (CSP) collector structures (i.e., parabolic troughs and heliostats) as well as their support structures. This project had two overarching objectives: (1) detailed measurements to characterize the prevailing wind conditions and resulting operational loads on collector structures, and (2) development and validation of a computationally efficient, high-fidelity modeling tool capable of predicting wind-loading in deep-array installations. Over three years, we conducted comprehensive at-scale field measurements of the atmospheric turbulent wind conditions, and the resulting wind loads on parabolic troughs and heliostats. Two at-scale measurement campaigns yielded first-of-its-kind, high-resolution, long-term datasets that are used to characterize the complex flow field and wind loading on parabolic-troughs and heliostats in operational power plants. The high-resolution measurements collected during these campaigns were used to validate the high-fidelity computational models developed at NREL. These open-source computationally efficient models were shown to be accurate in predicting wind-driven loads on collectors without the need for a large supercomputer.
14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
Wind loading on solar concentrators: Some general considerations
A survey was completed to examine the problems and complications arising from wind loading on solar concentrators. Wind loading is site specific and has an important bearing on the design, cost, performance, operation and maintenance, safety, survival, and replacement of solar collecting systems. Emphasis herein is on paraboloidal, two-axis tracking systems. Thermal receiver problems also are discussed. Wind characteristics are discussed from a general point of view. Current methods for determining design wind speed are reviewed. Aerodynamic coefficients are defined and illustrative examples are presented. Wind tunnel testing is discussed, and environmental wind tunnels are reviewed. Recent results on heliostat arrays are reviewed as well. Aeroelasticity in relation to structural design is discussed briefly.
Roschke, E. J.↗
Wind Tunnel Investigation of Ground Wind Loads for Ares Launch Vehicle
A three year program was conducted at the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) Aeroelasticity Branch (AB) and Transonic Dynamics Tunnel (TDT) with the primary objective to acquire scaled steady and dynamic ground-wind loads (GWL) wind-tunnel data for rollout, on-pad stay, and on-pad launch configurations for the Ares I-X Flight Test Vehicle (FTV). The experimental effort was conducted to obtain an understanding of the coupling of aerodynamic and structural characteristics that can result in large sustained wind-induced oscillations (WIO) on such a tall and slender launch vehicle and to generate a unique database for development and evaluation of analytical methods for predicting steady and dynamic GWL, especially those caused by vortex shedding, and resulting in significant WIO. This paper summarizes the wind-tunnel test program that employed two dynamically-aeroelastically scaled GWL models based on the Ares I-X Flight Test Vehicle. The first model tested, the GWL Checkout Model (CM), was a relatively simple model with a secondary objective of restoration and development of processes and methods for design, fabrication, testing, and data analysis of a representative ground wind loads model. In addition, parametric variations in surface roughness, Reynolds number, and protuberances (on/off) were investigated to determine effects on GWL characteristics. The second windtunnel model, the Ares I-X GWL Model, was significantly more complex and representative of the Ares I-X FTV and included the addition of simplified rigid geometrically-scaled models of the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) and Launch Complex 39B primary structures. Steady and dynamic base bending moment as well as model response and steady and unsteady pressure data was acquired during the testing of both models. During wind-tunnel testing of each model, flow conditions (speed and azimuth) where significant WIO occurred, were identified and thoroughly investigated. Scaled data from the Ares I-X GWL model test was used in the determination of worst-case loads for the analysis of Ares I-X FTV design wind conditions. Finally, this paper includes a brief discussion of the limited full-scale GWL data acquired during the rollout and on-pad stay of the Ares I-X FTV that was launched from KSC on October 28, 2009.
Keller, Donald F.↗
Comparison of analytical methods for calculation of wind loads
The following analysis is a comparison of analytical methods for calculation of wind load pressures. The analytical methods specified in ASCE Paper No. 3269, ANSI A58.1-1982, the Standard Building Code, and the Uniform Building Code were analyzed using various hurricane speeds to determine the differences in the calculated results. The winds used for the analysis ranged from 100 mph to 125 mph and applied inland from the shoreline of a large open body of water (i.e., an enormous lake or the ocean) a distance of 1500 feet or ten times the height of the building or structure considered. For a building or structure less than or equal to 250 feet in height acted upon by a wind greater than or equal to 115 mph, it was determined that the method specified in ANSI A58.1-1982 calculates a larger wind load pressure than the other methods. For a building or structure between 250 feet and 500 feet tall acted upon by a wind rangind from 100 mph to 110 mph, there is no clear choice of which method to use; for these cases, factors that must be considered are the steady-state or peak wind velocity, the geographic location, the distance from a large open body of water, and the expected design life and its risk factor.
Minderman, Donald J.↗