Design Wind and Sandstorm Loads on Trough Collectors in Fields

Trough collectors are laid out in rows in a field withrow spacing. Wind and sandstorm loads on the collectors will be influenced by surrounding collectors. This paper presents analyzed results from a combined wind tunnel and sandstorm tunnel study on a trough collector field with seven rows and five spans. In wind tunneltests, the measured model with pressure taps was installed in the field to measure wind pressures on the surfaces. Mean and fluctuating pressures on the model were measured by the synchronous multi-pressure sensing system under typical boundary layer wind flow field. In sandstorm tunneltests, a isolated trough collector model was measured by the high-frequency force balance technique under wind-blown sand flow field.