Abstract
In present days, in order to reduce environmental burdens renewable energy is paid attention to, and photovoltaic (PY) power generation technique is one of them. In a PV power plant a large number of PV panels are arranged in array toward the sun. As the proportion of the costs of panel support structure and its construction to total costs is large, it is important to reduce the construction cost as well as to ensure safety. Establishment of prediction technique by numerical simulation is demanded, because it is difficult to experiment with whole PV power plant. In this paper the prediction technique by numerical simulation was developed for pressure load which is one of the most important parameter associated with the designing of panel support structure and construction. Wind-force coefficient obtained by present calculation agreed well with experimental results and flow around PV arrays is visualized. Moreover, applying this method to various PV arrays arrangement, wind-force coefficient is predicted and flows around PV arrays are visualized.
