Two-way fluid-structure interaction of medium-sized heliostats

Abstract

Vortex shedding and the resultant transient loadings on a medium sized heliostat are investigated in this paper. Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is used as a validation case along with laminar and Large Eddy Simulation Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) validation. 2-Dimensional unsteady RANS and FSI are performed where the shedding frequency is found at the experimentally predicted Strouhal number, which is also in the region of concern as confirmed via a modal analysis of the heliostat structure. Stress-Blended Eddy Simulation (SBES) is then used as a scale-resolving method in order to accurately simulate the transient peak loading and vortex shedding in three dimensions. The SBES simulation results show that the 2D URANS results captured one of the main vortex-shedding frequencies. Initial deformation results from a transient structural analysis using the temporal SBES heliostat surface pressure fields as input indicate that the method holds promise in predicting the transient response of heliostats.