Wind Effects on a Stretched Membrane Heliostat

Abstract

Wind effects on stretched membrane heliostat were investigated in a boundary layer wind tunnel. The membrane response was measured at stow and representative operational conditions. It was found that both at the stow and operational conditions the mean response was much higher than the rms response. At stow conditions the largest response occurred near the leading edge of the membrane, while the rms response was the largest at the membrane centerpoint. For the operational conditions, the largest mean and rms responses were found at the membrane centerpoint. The membrane response was significantly reduced by the membrane focusing induced through the internal underpressure.