The wind-structure interaction analysis and optimization of parabolic trough collector

The mechanical properties and economic performance of solar collector have an important influence on solar thermal power generation system. The parabolic trough collector with torque-box is taken as the research object in this paper. Firstly, the geometric model is established with SolidWorks software. Then, the wind load of collector is simulated with ANSYS CFX software in order to achieve the more accurate result. Based on the work above, wind-structure interaction of collector is realized taking advantages of Workbench and the maximum deformation of the reflecting mirrors differs with the maximum deformation of single physical model about 30.3%. In the end, the cross-section sizes of the beam of torque-box and the cantilever beam are optimized based on the mechanical characteristics of variable cross-section beam. The simulation results show that the maximum deformation of the reflecting mirrors is reduced about 4.6% and the weight of the collector is reduced about 5.8% compared with the initial model. The methods provide the reference for the analysis and optimization of other solar collectors. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.