Findings from a survey on the current use of daylight simulations in building design (original) (raw)

Towards an Analysis of Daylighting Simulation Software

Energies, 2011

The aim of this article was to assess some of the main lighting software programs habitually used in architecture, subjecting them to a series of trials and analyzing the light distribution obtained in situations with different orientations, dates and geometry. The analysis examines Lightscape 3.2, Desktop Radiance 2.0, Lumen Micro 7.5, Ecotect 5.5 and Dialux 4.4.

Article Towards an Analysis of Daylighting Simulation Software

2011

The aim of this article was to assess some of the main lighting software programs habitually used in architecture, subjecting them to a series of trials and analyzing the light distribution obtained in situations with different orientations, dates and geometry. The analysis examines Lightscape 3.2, Desktop Radiance 2.0, Lumen Micro 7.5, Ecotect 5.5 and Dialux 4.4.

Daylighting design and simulation: ease of use analysis of digital tools for architects

CIB World Building Congress 2013-Construction and Society, Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, QLD. , 2013

Good daylighting design in buildings not only provides a comfortable luminous environment, but also delivers energy savings and comfortable and healthy environments for building occupants. Yet, there is still no consensus on how to assess what constitutes good daylighting design. Currently amongst building performance guidelines, Daylighting factors (DF) or minimum illuminance values are the standard; however, previous research has shown the shortcomings of these metrics. New computer software for daylighting analysis contains new more advanced metrics for daylighting (Climate Base Daylight Metrics-CBDM). Yet, these tools (new metrics or simulation tools) are not currently understood by architects and are not used within architectural firms in Australia.

Comparative Evaluation of Four Daylighting Software Programs

1999

By the mid-1980’s, a number of software packages were under development to predict daylighting performance in buildings, in particular illumination levels in daylighted spaces. An evaluation in 1988 by Ubbelohde et al. demonstrated that none of the software then available was capable of predicting the simplest of real daylighting designs. In the last ten years computer capabilities have evolved rapidly and we have four major packages widely available in the United States. This paper presents a comparative evaluation from the perspective of building and daylighting design practice. A contemporary building completed in 1993 was used as a base case for evaluation. We present the results from field measurements, software predictions and physical modeling as a basis for discussing the capabilities of the software packages in architectural design practice. We found the current software packages far more powerful and nuanced in their ability to predict daylight than previously. Some can ac...

Computer daylight simulations in buildings

Newly designed buildings should be optimized with respect to sufficient indoor illuminance and solar protection against glare effect and indoor overheating. The optimized building design must be based on solutions of many design alternatives and case studies, as well as necessary assessments should be carried out in order to find optimum solutions which can be completed via the help of computer simulation programmes. Some of the simulation programmes could be helpful for modelling of indoor daylighting in rooms and spaces with various types of daylight systems and their positioning in buildings. The paper focuses on a series of computer daylight simulations completed for the selected room with four different types of window openings specified for optimizing the building design for daylighting.

Integrating daylight simulation in the design process: comparative analysis between two computational platforms

2020

Daylighting presents an important role for high performance buildings. Currently, Building Information Modeling (BIM) has excelled in the Architecture and Engineering (AE being a little explored subject. This article aims to investigate the Insight plug-in for Revit, focusing on its daylighting features. The workflow, input-output structure and results of Insight dynamic (sDA) and static (illuminance levels) daylighting metrics were analyzed, comparatively to the plug-in DIVA-for-Rhino, which simulation engines were considered validated by literature. Simulations on both software used the same model of a reference office space for the city of Belo Horizonte. Results indicate that Insight’s favors the daylighting analysis in the initial phases of the design process and allows the verification of code compliances, however determining materials optical properties presents some degree of complexity. Low sensitivity to glasses with low and medium values of light transmittance was noticed...

Comparison of Climate-Based Daylighting in Two Integrated Simulation Tools

PLEA, 2013

Integrated daylighting and energy simulation tools aim to accomplish a thorough and accurate wholebuilding energy analysis in buildings and resolve the problems associated with discrete processes. OpenStudio and DIVA are two simulation tools that provide integrated daylighting and energy simulation. The objective of this study is to compare OpenStudio and DIVA software in daylighting performance simulation with results from physical experiment. Through this study Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI) as an indication of useful annual climate-base daylight was calculated for a toplighting model in DIVA, OpenStudio and experiment. Identical Radiance parameters have been used for both simulations. The results show that the daylight quantities predicted by DIVA are closer to the measured experimental data collected from monitoring the physical model on a year-round basis.

COMPARISON BETWEEN RADIANCE DAYLIGHT SIMULATION SOFTWARE RESULTS AND MEASURED ON-SITE DATA

The paper focuses on the validation of the popular simulation software Radiance; it investigates its accuracy and its limitations when used to calculate the daylight illuminance in clear sky conditions. The objective of the study is to examine the existence of any discrepancy and identify any systematic trend between actual and predicted results. The validation was conducted through a comparison between measured on-site data using the Luxmeter vs. Radiance's predicted results. Petrodar and NTC, both high-rise office buildings in Khartoum, were selected as case studies for the validation purposes. The study concluded that the diffuse daylight was simulated more accurately than the direct component. The variation between the measured values and simulated ones occurs at the points facing direct sunlight, and mostly when the sun comes at a low angle, this variation reached twice the measured in four cases. The study highlights the need for more refinement of the software when simulating direct component of daylight in clear sky conditions

Development of a Prototype for Integrating Building Information Model (BIM) with Daylighting Simulation Tools for Designing High-Performance Buildings

2020

The outcome of this study is the development of a prototype REVIT2RADIANCE add-in program for a Building Information Modeling (BIM) authoring tool Autodesk Revit to perform daylighting studies with ease by architects and simulation experts alike for designing High-Performance Buildings. To achieve this, first, a literature survey of several different daylighting calculation methods and tools was conducted to identify their capabilities and limitations, which include a comparative analysis of tools that are widely used and comparative analysis of daylighting simulation tools was ascertained from the comparative analysis. The results of the comparative analysis revealed that the state-of-the-art daylighting simulation tool RADIANCE has To my GOD & LORD JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH KING of Kings and

Design of new daylight simulators on architectural scale models

SHS Web of Conferences, 2019

To enable students to evaluate the impact of light on the scale models of their architectural projects, two physical simulation systems have been built: a mirror box and a sun and sky simulator. Both devices integrate LED-based light sources. We have integrated several models for the computation of the sky image: luminance models and colour appearance models. The integration of the recent and evolving LED technologies explains how our simulators are innovative.