Wind Loading Research Thesis
Wind Loading Research Thesis
Wind Loading Research Thesis
ABSTRACT
The current impetus for alternative energy sources is increasing the demand for rooftop solar energy
technologies in urban areas. The vulnerability of these solar arrays to damage due to wind forces escalates with
the increase in building height. Thus, it’s imperative that solar arrays are designed for appropriate wind loading.
Although wind tunnel studies have been conducted worldwide on Rooftop Solar Arrays (RSA), no guidance is
provided either in Indian codes IS 875 Pt-3 1987 and IS 875 Pt-3 Draft or in American codes ASCE-7 2002 and
2005. In this paper an attempt has been made to estimate wind loads on a RSA using both the aforesaid codes. In
this study RSA has been approximated as a mono-slope free standing roof. The pressure coefficients obtained
from published wind tunnel studies on solar arrays are also compared to those obtained using above standards.
The uplift forces experienced by the considered RSA is found maximum with ASCE-7 2005 and minimum with
ASCE-7 2002 for different panel inclinations and building heights. It is also seen that loads load estimate with
American codes are significantly conservative as compared to Indian wind Codes.
Keywords: Rooftop Solar Arrays, mono-slope free standing roof, pressure coefficients
Introduction
Now-a-day’s inclined solar arrays are being extensively used in urban areas on
building roofs as a source of alternative energy (Fig. 1). The wind flow around buildings is
still a complex phenomenon which becomes far more complicated in the presence of
obstructions placed on its top. This makes the RSA really very sensitive to wind loading.
Design standards and codes of practice offer little assistance to the designers regarding
provisions for wind-induced loading on RSA. Various wind tunnel studies have been
conducted worldwide for ground and roof mounted solar arrays considering parameters viz.
wind direction (ș), building height(H), tilt(ʔ), roof slope, roof location etc. as highlighted by :
Chevalien et al.1979, Radu et al. 1986, Radu and Axinte 1989, Wood et al. 2001, Kopp et al.
2002, Chung et al.2008, Shademan et al.2009, Ruscheweyh and Windhovel 2011,
Stathopoulos et al. 2012, 2013 etc. Banks et al. (2008) published some guidelines to calculate
wind loads on roof-mounted solar panels utilizing ASCE 7-05. Uematsu et al. (2008), made
several wind tunnel testing on free standing canopy roofs in order to determine the
characteristics of wind loads on these types of structures. Barkaszi et al. (2010) summarized
wind load calculations for solar panel arrays using the ASCE-7 2005 for estimation of wind
loads on solar panel arrays installed on pitched roofs. Researchers often recommend wind
tunnel tests for rooftop panel installation for verification of installation and calculations.
Proc. of the 8th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering – Nagesh R. Iyer, Prem Krishna, S. Selvi Rajan and P. Harikrishna (eds)
Copyright c 2013 APCWE-VIII. All rights reserved. Published by Research Publishing, Singapore. ISBN: 978-981-07-8011-1
doi:10.3850/978-981-07-8012-8 327 527
Proc. of the 8th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APCWE-VIII)
In this study, a particular solar array consisting of five panels (Panel size: 1.96 x 0.98 m) is
considered for estimation of wind loads when located centrally on flat roof tops (Fig.2). The
wind load on the solar array is estimated for five building heights(H) where H = 10m, 20m,
50m, 100m and 200m situated in urban areas and for four tilts(ʔ) where ʔ = 15°, 20°, 25°
and 30°. The standards followed for this purpose are IS 875 Pt-3 (1987), IS 875 Pt-3 Draft
(2011), ASCE-7 (2002) and ASCE-7 (2005). Since pressure coefficients (Cp) for different H
and ʔ are not presently available in aforesaid codes, Cp values for mono-slope free standing
canopies (open building) are used to estimate wind loads on RSA. Similar approach has been
suggested by researchers such as Banks (2008) and Barkaszi et al. (2010) with an exception to
the roof corner and edge regions.
Although the approach used in this paper can give wind loads on RSA for all wind speed
zones and terrains the results are shown for dense urban areas (emphasis to metropolitan
cities) over flat terrain coming under high wind speed zones (55 m/s) as per IS 875 Pt-3 1987.
Fig. 2 Schematic of considered RSA on flat roof with a magnified view on the right
The Cp values obtained from earlier as well as recently published wind tunnel studies
for RSA are coincident at certain points with Cp values from IS 875 Pt-3 1987 for a
free standing mono-slope roof. This is clear from Fig.3 which shows comparison of Cp
versus ș at ʔ = 30° and Fig.4 which shows comparison of Cp versus ʔ at ș = 135°.
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
3
2
Net Pressure Coefficient, Cp
-1
-2
-3
-4 Wind Direction
Fig. 5 shows the variation of uplift force (F) with H for each of the codes at ʔ = 15°,
20°, 25° and 30° respectively. The important observations are as follows:
• A sharp transition in ‘F’ for all ‘ʔ’ from H = 20m to 50m with both the IS
codes in comparison to the smooth transition with ASCE codes. This
difference is possibly because of the drastic increase in the terrain, height
factor, k2 between these heights in the IS codes.
• At ‘ʔ’ = 30°, the values of ‘F’ as per IS 875 Pt-3 Draft approaches closer to
that of ASCE-7 2005 at H = 50 m and 100m after which it diverges.
• The uplift forces (F) as per ASCE-7 2002 are significantly less in comparison
to all other codes. This notable difference is basically due to low force
coefficient values available as compared to the high Cp values present in other
codes for mono-slope free roofs.
Fig 5 Curves representing uplift forces (F) versus H for different codes (a) ʔ=15° (b)
ʔ=20° (c) ʔ = 25° (d) ʔ = 30°
The observed percentage change in values of ‘F’ for respective codes with transition in
ʔ for all considered ‘H’ values is shown in Fig. 6. It is evident that the percentage
change in uplift forces with transition in ‘ʔ’ remains same for both the Indian codes
although magnitude wise Draft code is greater (Fig.5). In case of ASCE-7 2002 there is
a significant difference for ʔ from 15° to 20° which further reduces and remains equal.
On the other hand, in ASCE-7 2005 the difference is initially small and further
diminishes with transition in ‘ʔ’.
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Proc. of the 8th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APCWE-VIII)
Fig. 6 Percentage difference in uplift forces (F) for each code with transition in ‘ʔ’ at all H
Fig 7 Bar Charts representing uplift forces for different building heights at each ‘ʔ’
The bar chart representation in Fig. 7 gives a clear idea on the magnitude of uplift on
RSA for each of the considered codes for varying building heights at separate ‘ʔ’
value. The following important observations are as follows:
• The uplift forces according to IS 875 Pt-3 Draft code are conservative by 15%
over IS 875 Pt-3 1987 at all ‘ʔ’ values on an average for the considered H
values.
• The uplift forces according to ASCE-7 2005 code are significantly
conservative over ASCE-7 2002. i.e almost two times at ʔ = 30° and up to
three times at ʔ = 15°, 20° & 25° on an average for the considered H values..
• The uplift forces according to ASCE-7 2005 code are conservative by 24%
over IS 875 Pt-3 Draft code at ‘ʔ’ = 30°, around 35% at ‘ʔ’ = 15° & 25° and
almost by 53% at ‘ʔ’ = 20° on an average for the considered H values.
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Proc. of the 8th Asia-Pacific Conference on Wind Engineering (APCWE-VIII)
Conclusion
1. The estimated wind loads as per ASCE-7 2005 are found to be significantly
conservative over Indian Draft code, varying from a minimum of 24% to a maximum
of 53% at various ‘ʔ’ on an average for the considered H values.
2. The good agreement of Cp values for mono-slope free standing roofs (in IS code) with
those of the established wind tunnel results (for inclined solar panels) gives confidence
of using them in wind load calculations.
3. Although wind tunnel studies are more accurate; but until and unless these things
appear in the standards such approximate estimation may be employed for the present
situation.
4. Besides, CFD technique can be used as an effective tool for determination of wind
loads on inclined roof top solar panels until some design guidelines get’s incorporated
in these codes
References
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