NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATIONS OF WIND LOADS ON PV SOLAR PANELS MOUNTED ON FLAT-ROOFS

As a vast renewable energy resource, solar energy is currently one of the most widely used types of new energy. For collecting solar energy devices based on photovoltaic (PV) cells are installed in locations with optimum exposure to sunlight. Wind-induced load is a main concern; however detailed guidelines and design codes for wind loads on PV solar panels are very limited. Therefore measurements were performed on a PV solar panel installed on the Mann Parking Building of the University of Ottawa. The wind load calculation was performed in conformity with the ASCE7-05 (2005) and SEAOC (2013) design codes, and it was noticed that the roof wind zone, building edge and the parapet effect were the main parameters affecting the estimated wind load value on each PV panel. The maximum wind load of 1,208.0 N was obtained on the northwest corner of the PV solar panel arrays, and the minimum wind load of 806.0 N was obtained on the centre of PV solar panel arrays.