Stress Analysis on Mounting Structure Due to Wind Loading in Solar Photovoltaic Farm

Lee, Jia Joon (2020) Stress Analysis on Mounting Structure Due to Wind Loading in Solar Photovoltaic Farm. Final Year Project (Bachelor), Tunku Abdul Rahman University College.

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Abstract

Solar energy is a form of renewable energy that can convert thermal energy to electrical energy. Renewable energies are the energies from a source that will not be depleted when used. Unlike unrenewable energies like fossil fuels and gas which have limited resources that has depleted over time, renewable energies are the solutions to human problems. To make this into reality, solar panels are needed to convert solar energy into electrical energy. These solar panels are made from solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. These cells are needed to be placed in a certain angle to maximize the conversion. To place these cells into these certain angles, mounting structures are needed. Mounting structures are structures that support the solar panel loads. Other than the load that is applied by the solar panel, wind loads are also a threat to the mounting structures. These wind loads may deform the structure over time. To overcome these problems, a mounting structure that can withstand the load coming from the solar panels and the wind is needed to be designed. There are many types of mounting structures which include screw piles, concrete spun piles and c-channel piles. As there are many possibilities that may result in the successfulness of the research, simulations are an alternative method to simulate the mounting structures that are overcoming these loads. Stress analysis is needed to be carried out in order to find out the stresses that are inflicted on the mounting structure due to wind load and dead load. The stress analysis is carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.3®, which is a simulation software that allows many kinds of analysis which include structural mechanics, fluid dynamics and even electromagnetics. There are two key elements that are researched in this study. The first element is to investigate how materials effect the stress and displacement of the mounting structure. To investigate how materials, affect the stress and displacement of the structure, a few materials are chosen which are aluminium, alloy steel and stainless steel AISI 316. The simulation was done, and it was found out that the alloy steel is the best material compared to the other two. This is because of the material properties of alloy steel which have higher young’s modulus than the other two materials. The second element of this present study is to investigate how shape and thickness affect the stress and displacement of the mounting structure. To investigate how shape and thickness affect the stress and displacement of the structure, two different thickness are considered which are the 2.5mm and 5mm thickness. It is shown that the thicker the support, the lower the displacement or deformation. Two different shapes of support were selected which are the circular and square shaped supports. It was shown that the better the aerodynamic of the shape, the higher the deformation of the structure.