Featured in Celebrating solar success story – 06-2018

Weighing the costs

Ascertaining whether ballast design calculations provided by mounting system manufacturers are performed correctly is not an easy task for the untrained eye. Thorsten Kray, Head of Building Aerodynamics at Institute for Industrial Aerodynamics Aachen (IFI), has created a checklist for reviewing ballast calculations which can be used by owners, EPCs, and others involved in designing and realizing projects.

By

pv magazine

19 Jun 2018

Most flat roof-mounting systems are susceptible to two failure mechanisms due to wind: ‘uplift’ and ‘sliding.’ In order to avoid these, ballasting is required – which needs to be calculated separately for each of the two effects.Structural interconnection is crucial to increase load sharing. If horizontal wind forces can be shared by the interconnected substructure, …

This article is part of pv+

Subscribe digitally to unlock exclusive investigative reporting, expert insights, in-depth analysis, and premium background coverage. Your subscription also includes full access to the digital edition of our magazine.