Solaracks

Arched Cantilever — Bifacial Panel Array

The arched bracket transfers canopy load through compression in the curved member, reducing required beam depth compared to a straight cantilever. Semi-transparent panel gaps create dappled light on the pavement below. DC wiring is neatly routed on the underside frame.

Dark charcoal finish. Corporate campus installation.

For diagonal parking bays, the solar carport does not need to follow the parking line angle. A more practical solution is to keep the carport structure in a straight rectangular grid, while the parking bays remain diagonal underneath. This allows cleaner column alignment, better PV module layout, easier drainage, lower fabrication cost, and safer vehicle movement. Columns should be positioned behind the parking stall or between bays, avoiding the vehicle turning path and door-opening area.
Common choice:
Drive aisle
---------------------------------
/ / / / / / / / diagonal parking lines
| | | | columns behind parking row
|_____|_____|_____|
PV canopy runs straight.
Common diagonal parking angles:

Parking angle Typical bay width Typical stall depth along aisle
45° 2.5–2.7 m ~5.0–5.5 m Easier turning, lower density
60° 2.5–2.7 m ~5.5–6.0 m Balanced layout
75° 2.5–2.7 m ~5.8–6.0 m Close to perpendicular
90° 2.5–2.7 m ~5.0–5.5 m Standard carport

Wind is the primary structural design force in solar carport engineering — not gravity, not snow.

Here is what most catalog specs miss:

Open carport canopies have no enclosed volume below. Wind flows both over and under the panel surface at the same time. ASCE 7-16 Chapter 27 and EN 1991-1-4 Section 7.3 treat these as open canopy roofs with separate pressure coefficients for top and bottom surfaces. The governing case is often when both act simultaneously — simultaneous uplift and downward pressure, not just one.

On top of that:

— Kz factor: a 4.5 m clearance carport sits at a higher velocity pressure zone than a 2.5 m structure. Same wind speed, different design pressure.
— CN coefficients shift with tilt angle. A 5° difference between 10° and 15° tilt can change the governing load combination enough to move purlin sizing.
— Edge vortex shedding at the leading edge creates cyclic fatigue loading on fasteners — not dramatic, but cumulative over 25 years.
— Wind zone classification (Exposure B vs D) can change the column section entirely for the same carport geometry.

We published a full technical breakdown on how each of these factors works and how they interact in a real structural analysis:

How Wind Load Affects Solar Carport Design
https://lnkd.in/gFRGwZtc

If you are specifying a carport without a site-specific load calculation, the structure is almost certainly not designed for your site. Solaracks provides SAP2000 structural analysis under ASCE 7-16, JIS C 8955:2017, and Eurocode. 24-hour turnaround on preliminary structural quotes.