Consideration of Non-uniform and Non-orthogonal Mechanical Loads for Structural Analysis of Photovoltaic Composite Structures

Abstract

At natural weathering, terrestrial photovoltaic modules are exposed to mechanical loads, inter alia. These mechanical loads are primarily caused by wind and snow. They can have an essential influence on the durability of photovoltaic modules, what should be taken into account during the design process. Up to now, mechanical loads are considered as uniform and orthogonal in the majority of experimental and theoretical investigations, resulting in over- or underestimation of stresses in the components of photovoltaic modules. Regarding the mathematical-mechanical modelling, it is of particular interest to represent the applied loads in an adequate manner. Therefore, this work provides an approach to the mathematical description of location and orientation-dependent loads to take non-uniform and non-orthogonal mechanical impact into account. In addition, the integration in an efficient and effective computational solution strategy towards global structural analysis is presented, which is based on a newly developed direct approach for multiple layers. Thereby, we reflect on the governing equations and the implementation of non-uniform and non-orthogonal loading. Characteristic case studies complete the present treatise.