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Turbulence characteristics in the wake of a heliostat in an atmospheric boundary layer flow

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posted on 2025-05-11, 17:06 authored by Azadeh Jafari, Matthew Emes, Benjamin Cazzolato, Farzin Ghanadi, Maziar Arjomandi
The mean and spectral characteristics of turbulence in the wake flow of a flat plate model resembling a heliostat in the atmospheric boundary layer flow are investigated in a wind tunnel experiment. Mean velocity and turbulence kinetic energy were characterized in the wake of a heliostat model at three elevation angles up to a distance of eight times the characteristic dimension of the heliostat panel. An increase in turbulence intensity and kinetic energy was found in the wake flow, reaching a peak at a distance equal to approximately twice the characteristic dimension of the heliostat panel. Furthermore, spectral and wavelet analysis of velocity fluctuations in the wake showed that the dominant mechanism in the immediate downstream of the plate was the breakdown of large inflow turbulence structures to smaller scales. In the end, the wake-induced turbulence patterns and wind loads in a heliostat field were discussed. It was found that compared to a heliostat at the front row, the heliostats positioned in high-density regions of a field were subjected to a higher turbulence intensity and, consequently, larger dynamic wind loading. The results show that it is necessary to consider the increased unsteady wind loads for the design of a heliostat in high-density regions of a field, where the gap between the rows is less than three-times the characteristic length of the heliostat panel.

History

Journal title

Physics of Fluids

Volume

32

Issue

4

Article number

45116

Publisher

AIP Publishing

Language

  • en, English

College/Research Centre

Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment

School

School of Engineering

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