Extreme Wind Loading on Flat-Roof-Mounted Solar Arrays with Consideration of Wind Directionality

Abstract

The assessment of extreme wind loading on solar arrays plays a significant role in ensuring their safe operation under strong winds. Therefore, this paper investigates the extreme wind loading on solar arrays mounted on a flat roof by taking into account the wind directionality effect. The estimation process is conducted by using in situ wind speeds obtained from meteorological stations and wind loading coefficients on solar arrays obtained from wind tunnel tests based on the joint probability distribution of multiple variables and their conditional probabilities. This allows a discussion regarding how the extreme wind loading of solar arrays would be affected by such factors as the uncertainty of wind loading coefficient, the structural orientation of buildings on which solar arrays are mounted, and the directional characteristics of wind speeds. Finally, a comparison among the proposed methods, considering the wind directionality in current wind loading codes, is performed. The extreme wind loading determined by multivariate extreme value theory is found to be comparable to the corresponding estimate calculated according to the independent assumption of directional extreme wind speed. The results of this study provide a valuable reference for the design of wind-resistant solar arrays that takes account of wind directionality effect.