The aerodynamic forces and pressures exerted on heliostats under strong wind conditions exhibit non-linear and complex variations. In order to prevent the heliostats from being damaged, Investigating the variation law of integrated aerodynamic forces and wind pressures on heliostats has become a critical research imperative. Wind tunnel testing was conducted on scaled heliostat models across a full 0°-180° azimuth sweep and 0°-90° elevation angle range. Both temporal variations of the aerodynamic forces on heliostats and temporal variations of the surface pressure at each transducer location were systematically measure. Based on the measured data, the dynamic characteristics of fluctuating wind force coefficients and pressure coefficients were systematically characterized, followed by the identification of peak fluctuating forces with corresponding operational conditions and the localization of maximum fluctuating pressures at specific transducer positions. Ten strategically selected pressure taps were employed to the variation law of fluctuating wind pressures on azimuth and elevation angles. and then the dynamic wind pressure of these ten critical measurement points across the all working conditions were comprehensively obtained. The results are indicated that the working condition which is corresponding to the maximum value of fluctuating wind force coefficient and mean wind force coefficient are the same basically. The maximum fluctuating wind pressure across all working conditions configurations localizes at the inferior edge of the heliostat mirror panel under the 30°-0° azimuth-elevation configuration. The variation law of fluctuating wind pressures across ten measurement locations was found to be strongly influenced by geometric position. This study derived critical pressure distributions under the most unfavorable working condition, providing fundamental insights for heliostat structural optimization.
Li et al. (Sat,) studied this question.