Wind Effects in Solar Fields with Various Collector Designs

Parabolic trough power plants are often located in areas that are subjected to high wind speeds, as an open terrain without any obstructions is beneficial for the plant performance. The wind impacts both the structural requirements and the performance of the plant. The aerodynamic loads from the wind impose strong requirements on the support structure of the reflectors, and they also impact the tracking accuracy. On a thermal level the airflow around the glass envelope of the receiver tube cools its outer surface through forced convection, thereby contributing to the heat loss. Based on previous studies at the level of an individual row of collectors, this study analyses the wind effects in a full-scale solar field of different continuous and staggered trough designs. The airflow around several rows of parabolic trough collectors (PTC) is simulated at full scale in steady state simulations in an atmospheric boundary layer flow using the commercial computational fluid dynamics software ANSYS (R) CFX 15.0. The effect of the wake of a collector row on the following collectors is analysed, and the aerodynamic loads are compared between the different geometries. The outermost collectors of a solar field experience the highest wind forces, as the rows in the interior of the solar field are protected from high wind speeds. While the aerodynamic forces in the interior of the solar field are almost independent of the collector shape, the deeper troughs (with large rim angles) tested in this study show a lower heat loss due to forced convection on the outer surface of the receiver tube than the shallower ones (with small rim angles) in most of the solar field.