Extreme Wave Impact on Elastic Photovoltaic Panels Considering Crack Risk

Extreme waves, owing to their enormous impact energy, wide range of action, and strong destructive capacity, generate considerable impact forces that lead to the vibration and damage of offshore photovoltaic and other marine structures. The generated cracks when waves impact photovoltaic panels affect their power generation efficiency and service life, but research on wave-impacted elastic photovoltaic panels is still lacking. In this work, a two-way fluid-solid coupling numerical method was used to predict the hydroelastic response of photovoltaic panels under different wave conditions. First, an analysis of the impact loading on the photovoltaic panel was presented, including the normal impact force and peak pressure under different wave conditions. The hydroelastic response of the photovoltaic panel to impact, in terms of the displacement of the photovoltaic panel and the stress of the solar cells, was subsequently analyzed and discussed. Finally, the peak stress in the silicon panels was compared with the mechanical strength of the silicon panels, revealing the cracking risk of the PV panels under different sea states. The results showed that the impact force was the main cause of cracks in the photovoltaic panels, which can easily result in damage caused by stress concentrations at their corners, where the stress in the silicon panels was the largest. The peak stress of the photovoltaic panel under the sea state of Grade 6-1 can reach 78.93 MPa, which exceeds the mechanical strength of silicon panels; therefore, there is a larger risk of internal cracking.