Solar power is being spotlighted recently as a new energy source due to environmental problems and applications of solar power to curved structures are increasing. Solar panels installed on curved surfaces have different efficiencies depending on its position and the efficient positioning of solar panels plays a critical role in the design of solar power generation systems. In this study, the changing characteristics of solar irradiance were analyzed for hemispherical dome with a large curvature and the positioning of solar panels that can efficiently utilize solar energy was investigated. With an icosahedron-based hemispherical dome consisting of triangular elements as target model, a program for calculating solar irradiance using a normal vector of the solar module on each face was developed. Furthermore, the change of solar irradiance according to the sun’s path was analyzed by time and season, and its effects on shades were also examined. From the analysis results, the effective positioning could be determined on the basis of the efficiency of the solar panels installed on the dome surfaces on solar irradiance.

In this study, a shape design and an analysis considering structural stability were investigated to develop an icosahedron-based hemispherical modular dome. To design this modular dome, a program that can perform icosahedron shape modeling, modularization of joint connection members, and the analysis of structural stability was developed. Furthermore, based on the adopted numerical model, the eigen buckling mode, unstable behavior characteristics according to load vector, and the critical buckling load of the modular dome under uniformly distributed load and concentrated load were analyzed, and the resistance capacities of the structure according to different load vectors were compared. The analysis results for the modular dome suggest that the developed program can perform joint modeling for shape design as well as modular member design, and adequately expressed the nonlinear behaviors of structured according to load conditions. The critical buckling load results also correctly reflected the characteristics of the load conditions. The uniformly distributed load was more advantageous to the structural stability than concentrated load.