The challenge
Connectum, a producer of unique, universal, and circular products were looking to re-design the flotation systems of their ClicFloat solar panels to make them more sustainable, both environmentally and economically.
Across Northern Europe large greenhouses supply much of the salad vegetables sold by supermarkets, and while more efficient than traditional growing, they require significant amounts of irrigation. To provide water storage the greenhouses are typically accompanied by large artificial reservoirs, and one of the most significant costs associated with this irrigation system is pumping the water in and out. Connectum identified that the solution was to float solar panels on the reservoir surface to both provide power for pumping and cover to minimise evaporative losses.
After developing an initial prototype, they turned to engineering consultancy Vectayn to progress and validate their designs prior to manufacturing using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE). With the brief that the solar panel arrays had to withstand the various natural elements (wind, wave, snow) and maintenance loads, Vectayn required a CAE suite that was flexible enough for the range of analysis that they needed to conduct, while maintaining an efficient workflow due to the large model sizes and geographical spread of their team.
Software used on this project
The solution
LS-DYNA was Vectayn’s solver of choice as they recognised that the flexibility it provided for multi-physics analysis would satisfy the range of investigation required. The Oasys LS-DYNA environment was also selected for its complete compatibility with LS-DYNA keywords, enabling Vectayn to unlock the full potential of the solver.
Oasys PRIMER was used as their pre-processor to efficiently prepare and build their models to run through LS-DYNA. As presented at the 2023 UK Conference, Oasys D3PLOT, was used for analysis visualisation, overall design checking and to simulate joint interactions between parts using the cross-section tools. The fluid-structure interaction between the waves and the solar panels was also modelled using LS-DYNA’s Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) capabilities and Oasys D3PLOT, allowing Vectayn to determine the stress experienced by the solar panels caused by the force of different waves.
FEMZIP proved to be an instrumental tool in achieving workflow efficiency, allowing the team to compress large files without compromising on quality, achieving a file reduction size of 97% to facilitate the transfer of data across team members.
The results
By utilising the Oasys LS-DYNA Environment, Vectayn were able to collaborate globally and successfully conduct their analysis. They significantly refined and enhanced the initial prototype based on their analysis to fulfil all loading requirements and the redesigned ClicFloat solar panels have since been deployed, achieving lower cost installation, reduced running costs for irrigation and direct environmental benefits. “Vectayn has used LS-Dyna and the Oasys suite for over 30 years. Its flexibility and widespread use make it ideal for consultancy work. The team’s ALE method was instrumental in accurately modelling structure and fluid interaction.” – Dan Page, Director, Vectayn