Search Results (2)

Highway slope-mounted photovoltaic (HSPV) systems are increasingly deployed along expressways, yet wind loads on panel arrays can be strongly modified by slope-induced topographic effects. This study establishes a full-scale CFD framework (ANSYS Fluent, RANS with the SST k–ω model) to quantify the evolution of roadside wind profiles over embankments and the resulting wind loads on HSPV arrays. The inlet boundary layer, mesh independence, and surface pressure distributions were validated against theoretical profiles (errors < 5%), mesh refinement, and wind-tunnel data from the literature. Seven slope geometries (H = 2–10 m, i = 1:1–1:1.75) were analyzed to characterize wind-profile deviation and recovery height, followed by simulations of a 3 × 40-module array to evaluate shape and moment coefficients. Topographic effects are concentrated in the near-ground layer from the slope toe to crest, producing toe deceleration and mid-to-upper-slope acceleration; increasing H markedly enlarges the affected height range. For arrays, the slope ratio governs wake superposition and drives strong row-wise differentiation, with the rear row consistently yielding the most unfavorable net pressure and bending moment. Steep slopes can reverse the moment sign, with the moment coefficient varying approximately from −0.15 to +0.15 across the investigated cases, whereas gentler slopes amplify positive moments in the rear rows, suggesting that design checks should prioritize rear-row modules over single-row references. Full article

As the scale of onshore wind farms are increasing, the influence of wake behavior on power production becomes increasingly significant. Wind turbines sittings in onshore wind farms should take terrain into consideration including height change and slope curvature. However, optimized wind turbine (WT) placement for onshore wind farms considering both topographic amplitude and wake interaction is realistic. In this paper, an approach for optimized placement of onshore wind farms considering the topography as well as the wake effect is proposed. Based on minimizing the levelized production cost (LPC), the placement of WTs was optimized considering topography and the effect of this on WTs interactions. The results indicated that the proposed method was effective for finding the optimized layout for uneven onshore wind farms. The optimization method is applicable for optimized placement of onshore wind farms and can be extended to different topographic conditions. Full article