Towards an Analysis of Daylighting Simulation Software (original) (raw)
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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.
Daylight simulation in buildings
PLEA 2008, 2008
Emphasis on daylight is given to non-domestic buildings because in such buildings the specificity of the activities or the high levels of illumination demand a more careful control on daylighting examined for design purposes. Clearly energy saving in that situation is one of the reasons for that emphasis. This paper deals with light coming into the rooms through the window providing natural light once the window is considered the only system that provides and controls light flux and distribution. Rooms can be classified according to their occupancy and use, and then many different activities requiring different illumination levels can be developed in the same space. Room's classification is the first step to establish the ratio window to the floor area for daylight purposes. Therefore the aim of the present work is to investigate window’s characteristics as a mean to assess daylighting. Windows’ parameters were taken up to calculate daylighting for 12.00m² rooms. The simulated cases were accessed varying windows position, shape, size and geometry, maintaining in all cases 3.60m² area. This methodology can be applied in architectural education aiming students’ comprehension about users’ comfort and energy savings. ECOTECT and Radiance softwares were used to simulate the proposed windows’ parameters.
Findings from a survey on the current use of daylight simulations in building design
Energy and Buildings, 2006
This paper presents findings from a web-based survey on the current use of daylight simulations in building design. The survey was administered from December 2 nd 2003 to January 19 th 2004. 185 individuals from 27 countries completed the survey. The majority of respondents worked in Canada (20%), the United States (20%), and Germany (12%). Most participants were recruited through building simulation mailing lists. Their self-reported professions ranged from energy consultants and engineers (38%) to architects and lighting designers (31%) as well as researchers (23%). They worked predominantly on large and small offices and schools. 91% of respondents included daylighting aspects in their building design. Those who did not consider daylighting blamed lack of information and unwillingness of clients to pay for this extra service. Among those participants who were considering daylighting 79% used computer simulations. This strong sample bias towards computer simulations reflects that many participants had been recruited through building simulation mailing lists. Participants named tools' complexity and insufficient program documentation as weaknesses of existing programs. Self-training was the most common training method for daylight simulation tools. Tool usage was significantly higher during design development than during schematic design. Most survey participants used daylighting software for parameter studies and presented the results to their clients as a basis for design decisions. While daylight factor and interior illuminances were the most commonly calculated simulation outputs, shading type and control were the most common design aspects influenced by a daylighting analysis. The use of scale model measurements had rapidly fallen compared to a 1994 survey, whereas trust in the reliability of daylighting tools has risen. While participants named a total of 42 different daylight simulation programs that they routinely used, over 50% of program selections were for tools that use the RADIANCE simulation engine, revealing the program's predominance within the daylight simulation community.
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.
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...
486: Daylight simulation in buildings
2008
Emphasis on daylight is given to non-domestic buildings because in such buildings the specificity of the activities or the high levels of illumination demand a more careful control on daylighting examined for design purposes. Clearly energy saving in that situation is one of the reasons for that emphasis. This paper deals with light coming into the rooms through the window providing natural light once the window is considered the only system that provides and controls light flux and distribution. Rooms can be classified according to their occupancy and use, and then many different activities requiring different illumination levels can be developed in the same space. Room's classification is the first step to establish the ratio window to the floor area for daylight purposes. Therefore the aim of the present work is to investigate window’s characteristics as a mean to assess daylighting. Windows’ parameters were taken up to calculate daylighting for 12.00m² rooms. The simulated c...
A Study of Different Building Energy Lighting Simulation Tools in Practice
Advances in Energy and Power, 2015
For the past 50 years, wide varieties of lighting simulation software or tools have been developed to enhance use throughout the building energy lighting community to achieve the efficiency goals through daylighting. Architects and building designers require effective simulation design tools for analysis and understanding the complex behavior of building design. The government officials and the experienced lighting modelers are even also confused sometimes by a wide range of day lighting simulation software and feel uncertain about the validity and accuracy of the light energy calculation. These lighting simulation software or tools are used by the 3D architectural simulation tools. This research has been conducted into UWE Bristol, UK to reveal ECOTECT is more reliable and accurate daylighting simulation software and presenting study was a sub part. Its main aim is to discuss the important use of lighting simulation software for efficiency in building design. And to compare the most widely use lighting simulation tools that are claiming to predict accuracy for enhancing the daylighting performance in building design.
The Application of Daylighting Software for Case-study Design in Buildings
Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe (eCAADe) [Volume 1]
The application of different software, whether simple or complex, can each play a significant role in the design and decision-making on daylighting for a building. This paper, discusses the task to be accomplished, in real case studies, and how various lighting software programs are used to achieve the desired information. The message iterated throughout the paper is one that respects, and even suggests, the use of even the simplest software, that can guide and inform design decisions in daylighting. Daylighting can be complex since the position of the sun varies throughout the day and year as well as do the sky conditions for a particular location. Just because we now have the computing capacity to model every single minute of a day throughout a year, doesn't justify its task. Several projects; an architecture studio, a university office building, a school library and a gymnasium all present different tasks to be achieved. The daylighting problems, the objects and the software application and their outcomes are presented in this paper. Over a decade of projects has led to reflecting upon the importance of computing in daylighting, its staged approach and the result that it can achieve if properly applied.
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...