For configuring a solar panel wind load simulation using CFD, a reference wind speed Uref needs to be known for your location. There are two possibilities how to approach this question:
Historical Local Weather Data
You can use a service like https://meteostat.net/ (free) where you can obtain historical weather data for your location including the maximum gust wind speed. Note this maximum gust speed and enter it as Uref into the solarcfd wizard.
For Europe, another good source is https://map.neweuropeanwindatlas.eu/ (free), but the user interface is a bit complicated.
A worldwide historical weather resource is https://open-meteo.com/en/docs/historical-weather-api (free) providing gust speed at 10m height that can be directly used as Uref.
Historical wind speed including maximum gust speed for Berlin during winter 2022. Taken from meteostat.net.
Reference wind speeds from international standards
Standards like US, ASCE 7 or EN 1991-1-4 take standardized reference wind speeds in their calculation recipies.
- For the US, ASCE 7 conform wind maps can be found at: https://asce7hazardtool.online/ (free)
- For Europe, peak wind speeds at different heights can be obtained from: https://map.neweuropeanwindatlas.eu/ (free)
- For Europe, EN 1991-1-4 conform wind maps can be obtained from: https://www.dlubal.com/en/load-zones-for-snow-wind-earthquake/wind-din-en-1991-1-4.html (paid)
Reference wind speed according to ASCE / SEI 7 – 22 for Richmond, USA. Output 92mph. Taken from https://asce7hazardtool.online/
