Taiwan is actively promoting renewable energy policies, aiming to achieve a 20% share of renewable energy generation by 2026. Rooftop canopy-type solar photovoltaic (PV) systems have been widely adopted due to limited land availability; however, specific design guidelines addressing wind-induced structural behavior of such systems remain insufficient. Current designs often rely on general building wind-resistance codes, which may not adequately account for aerodynamic effects, structural flexibility, and uplift mechanisms specific to canopy-type PV support structures.

This study investigates the dynamic characteristics and wind-induced response of a rooftop canopy-type PV support system through a combined experimental–numerical approach. Biaxial shaking table tests were conducted to identify the natural frequencies and vibration behavior of a scaled structural model, while finite element modal analysis was performed using SAP2000 for comparison and validation. The experimental results indicate that the dominant Y-direction frequency identified from the shaking table test (fny = 4.1944 Hz) is within 5% of the corresponding SAP2000 modal frequency (fny = 5.2107 Hz), demonstrating good agreement despite idealized boundary conditions in numerical modeling.

The results reveal that excessive lateral wind-induced excitation may significantly amplify structural displacement and internal force demand, potentially leading to damage of both PV modules and supporting members. Key influencing parameters, including structural stiffness distribution and uplift-related wind pressure coefficients, are discussed. These results support practical wind-resistant checks for rooftop canopy-type PV supports in typhoon-prone regions, including stiffness tuning and uplift-sensitive connection design. The proposed framework can be directly applied as a preliminary dynamic check to complement code-based static wind design in engineering practice.