Paper Title
Wind Load and Structural Analysis of an Elevated Solar Panel Supporting Structure for an Agrovoltaic System
Abstract
This study uses computational fluid dynamics to look at the stability of an elevated solar panel support structure
in order to make it possible to grow crops and produce solar power on the same piece of land. Wind load analysis is
conducted to evaluate the entire elevated support structure's stress, strain, and factor of safety. The overturning moment is
analytically determined at the foundation and the result is used to determine the maximum strain that a foundation can
withstand without collapsing.The simulation's output indicates that the Solar Panel supporting frame of the elevated support
structure is where the most stress and strain are present, however this is within safe bounds with a factor of safety of 10 and
the strain at the foundation is less than the maximum strain determined analytically using the overturning moment. The result
shows that this elevated solar panel support structure will withstand with the worst case wind speed in the installation zone
i.e. 47 m/s that happens in years.
Keywords - Agrovoltaic, Solar, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Solidworks, Simulation.