In the present study, effects of panel shapes on wind-induced vibrations of solar wing system under various wind environments were investigated through conducting a series of wind tunnel tests. A scaled solar wing system with solar panels connected by cables was manufactured. Vertical displacements of four panels were measured using laser displacement sensors. The tests showed that the largest mean displacements occurred in low-turbulence flow for wind directions 40°–60°. For fluctuating displacement, boundary-layer and grid-generated flows showed buffeting vibration for all wind directions, but the values were much larger in boundary-layer flows. When the wind direction was greater than 40°, characteristic vibrations were found for low-turbulence flow, showing limited and instability vibration for a specific panel shape and wind direction. Mean and fluctuating displacements were highly dependent on panel shapes and wind environments.

Tall buildings have been traditionally designed to be symmetric rectangular, triangular or circular in plan, in order to avoid excessive seismic-induced torsional vibrations due to eccentricity, especially in seismic prone regions like Japan. However, recent tall building design has been released from the spell of compulsory symmetric shape design, and free-style design is increasing. This is mainly due to architects' and structural designers' challenging demands for novel and unconventional expressions. Development of computer aided analytical techniques and of vibration control techniques using auxiliary devices has also contributed to this trend. Another important aspect is that rather complicated sectional shapes are basically good with regard to aerodynamic properties for crosswind responses, which is a key issue in tall-building wind-resistant design. A series of wind tunnel tests have been carried out to determine wind forces and wind pressures acting on 31 tall building models with various configurations: square plan, rectangular plan, elliptic plan, with corner cut, with corner chamfered, tilted, tapered, inverse tapered, with setbacks, helical, openings and so on. Dynamic wind-induced response analyses of these models have also been conducted. The results of these tests have led to comprehensive discussions on the aerodynamic characteristics of various tall building configurations, and studies on corresponding optimal structural systems.

This paper describes wind tunnel experimental results of wind-induced responses of a solar wing system, and investigates its aeroelastic instability using a scaled model. The model comprised 12 solar wing units, each supported by 2 cables. The gaps between units were set constant. Two sag ratios (i.e. sag/span length) were adopted. The wind speed was varied from 0 to 16m/s, and 18 different wind speeds were used. From the experiment, when the sag was 2%, a sudden increase in fluctuating displacement was found near a mean wind speed of 10m/s at a wind direction of 40°. A sudden increase in fluctuating displacements was also found near a mean wind speed of 1m/s when the wind direction was larger than 60°. When the sag increased to 5%, some differences among units in mean displacements were found and complicate vibration in fluctuating displacement at low wind speed was observed.