Wind loads on industrial solar panel arrays and supporting roof structure

Wind tunnel pressure tests were conducted on a 1:100 scale model of a large industrial building with solar panels mounted parallel to the flat roof. The model form was chosen to have the same aspect ratio as the Texas Tech University test building. Pressures were simultaneously measured on the roof, and on the topside and underside of the solar panel, the latter two combining to produce a nett panel pressure. For the configurations tested, varying both the lateral spacing between the panels and the height of the panels above the roof surface had little influence on the measured pressures, except at the leading edge. The orientation of the panels with respect to the wind flow and the proximity of the panels to the leading edge had a greater effect on the measured pressure distributions. The pressure coefficients are compared against the results for the roof with no panels attached. The model results with no panels attached agreed well with full-scale results from the Texas Tech test building.