Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2022; Aachen : RWTH Aachen University 1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen, Diagramme (2023). = Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2022, The development of performance standards for heliostats aims at maximizing the quality of the solar tower technology. While wind loads are known to affect a heliostat’s tracking performance, an acceptance test was yet to be developed and provided to the SolarPACES heliostat performance guideline. In this thesis, a practical and time-efficient acceptance test is developed which is based on the concept to analytically describe the aerodynamic loads and induced tracking deviations through only few effective parameters which can then be determined experimentally at the real-scale heliostat. Therefore, an analytical model is developed and suitable performance indicators are derived which are the final result of the acceptance test and reflect a heliostat’s tracking performance under wind load. Furthermore, an easy-to-perform experimental procedure, termed pulling test, is developed and tested in order to provide the necessary effective parameters to the analytical model. Additional mandatory parameters to be provided to the analytical model are, in principle, prescribed by the acceptance test. The developed acceptance test is validated and discussed based on measurement data of a novel field study. The field study comprises a comprehensive measurement campaign at two real-scale heliostats during which the following three components are measured simultaneously: the approaching wind through ultrasonic anemometers; the induced aerodynamic load through a newly developed, innovative pressure measurement system; and the heliostat’s wind-induced tracking deviation through a dynamic photogrammetry system. The field study data, together with the results of the new pulling test, are applied to the analytical model and its applicability is verified, partly against existing results of wind tunnel studies. Moreover, the modeled and measured wind-induced tracking deviations agree well and validate the modeling process. The uncertainty of modeled tracking deviations is found to be in the range of 6 % to 8 %, based on the application of true, measured data to the analytical model. In the framework of the acceptance test, measured parameters have to be partly exchanged by modeled parameters. Due to that, systematic deviations are found to occur and reduce the accuracy of the final performance indicators. In addition, at the current stage of development, moment coefficients cannot be fully prescribed by the acceptance test but may be provided by the user. Due to that, the comparability between performance indicators can be affected. In future, these effects can be avoided and the acceptance test is concluded to be an easy and efficient method to predict and compare wind-induced tracking deviations of heliostats., Published by RWTH Aachen University, Aachen