Wind load design methods for ground-based heliostats and parabolic dish collectors

The purpose of this design method is to define wind loads on flat heliostat and parabolic dish collectors in a simplified form. Wind loads are defined for both mean and peak loads accounting for the protective influence of upwind collectors, wind protective fences, or other wind-blockage elements. The method used to define wind loads was to generalize wind load data obtained during tests on model collectors, heliostats or parabolic dishes, placed in a modeled atmospheric wind in a boundary-layer wind-tunnel at Colorado State University. For both heliostats and parabolic dishes, loads are reported for solitary collectors and for collectors as elements of a field. All collectors were solid with negligible porosity; thus the effects of porosity in the collectors is not addressed.