Wind loads on a residential solar water heater

This experimental study aims to address the effects of freestream turbulence intensity (TI) on wind loads on a residential solar water heater with and without a guide plate. Highly turbulent flow was produced by a turbulence generation grid at the inlet of the working section. Results show that the distributions of mean longitudinal and spanwise pressures are associated with tilt angle, guide plate, and freestream TI. Interactions between separation and corner vortices on the upper surface and impingement of shear layer from the tip of a guide plate on the lower surface would induce higher levels of fluctuating pressure, particularly in turbulent flow. A similarity parameter alpha/A* is also proposed to scale the uplift coefficients in both smooth uniform and turbulent flows.