Home Building Simulation Article
Article Link
Cite
EndNote(RIS) BibTeX
Collect
Submit Manuscript
Show Outline
Outline
Abstract
Keywords
References
Show full outline
Hide outline
Research Article

Comparison of daylight simulation methods for reflected sunlight from curtain walls

Jun Wang1, Minchen Wei1(), Xiukai Ruan2()
Department of Building Services Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Wenzhou University, Wenzhou City, Zhejiang Province, China
Show Author Information

Abstract

Curtain walls are more and more commonly used as building facades. They allow a better daylight availability and a direct connection to exterior environments. Meanwhile, due to the high specular reflections, they may also introduce negative impacts, such as glare and urban heat island effects, to the surround, especially in dense and urban environments. Therefore, it is important to effectively characterize the reflected sunlight from curtain walls. This study aimed to compare how different simulation methods can be used to characterize the reflected sunlight from curtain walls. It was found that the modeling of the sun and sky, ambient calculation, and the modeling of the building façade significantly affected the simulation results. A combination of forward and backward ray-tracing is recommended, with forward ray-tracing for identifying the curtain wall areas reflecting sunlight and backward ray-tracing for calculating illuminance due to reflected sunlight. A follow-up work is planned to investigate how different parameters will affect the simulation results and which method can produce similar results as field measurements.

Keywords

daylightingreflected sunlightdaylight simulationray-tracing

References

 
Aksamija A (2016). Design methods for sustainable, high-performance building facades. Advances in Building Energy Research, 10: 240-262.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Baljit SSS, Chan HY, Sopian K (2016). Review of building integrated applications of photovoltaic and solar thermal systems. Journal of Cleaner Production, 137: 677-689.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Bauer C, Wittkopf S (2016). Annual daylight simulations with EvalDRC - Assessing the performance of daylight redirection components. Journal of Facade Design and Engineering, 3: 253-272.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
BCA (2016). Regulation on daylight reflectance of materials used on exterior of buildings. Building and Construction Authority (BCA). Available at https://www.corenet.gov.sg/media/2013555/ circular-on-regulation-on-daylight-reflectance-of-materials-used-on-exterior-of-buildings.pdf. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
 
BD (2014). Guidelines on design and construction requirements for energy efficiency of residential buildings. Buildings Department (BD). Available at https://www.bd.gov.hk/doc/en/resources/ codes-and-references/code-and-design-manuals/Guidelines_DCREERB2014e.pdf. Accessed 20 Jul 2020.
 
Bourgeois D, Reinhart CF, Ward G (2008). Standard daylight coefficient model for dynamic daylighting simulations. Building Research & Information, 36: 68-82.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Brembilla E, Mardaljevic J (2019). Climate-Based Daylight Modelling for compliance verification: Benchmarking multiple state-of-the-art methods. Building and Environment, 158: 151-164.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Brembilla E, Chi DA, Hopfe CJ, Mardaljevic J (2019). Evaluation of climate-based daylighting techniques for complex fenestration and shading systems. Energy and Buildings, 203: 109454.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Brzezicki M (2012). The influence of reflected solar glare caused by the glass cladding of a building: application of caustic curve analysis. Computer-Aided Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, 27: 347-357.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Chow T-t, Li C, Lin Z (2010). Innovative solar windows for cooling-demand climate. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 94: 212-220.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
City of Sydney Council (2012). Sydney development control plan 2012. Available at https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/shared-drupal-s3fs/master-test/fapub_pdf/SYDNEY/Sydney%20DCP%202012%20-%20as%20amended%206%20May%202016%20-%20Text.pdf. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
 
Costanzo V, Yao R, Essah E, Shao L, Shahrestani M, et al. (2018). A method of strategic evaluation of energy performance of Building Integrated Photovoltaic in the urban context. Journal of Cleaner Production, 184: 82-91.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Danks R (2014). Application of large scale solar modelling in the built environment. In: Proceedings of the eSim 2014 Conference on Builing Simulation, Ottawa, Canada.
 
Danks R, Good J (2016). Urban scale simulations of solar reflections in the built environment: Methodology and validation. In: Proceedings of the Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design, London, UK.
 
Danks R, Good J, Sinclair R (2016). Assessing reflected sunlight from building facades: A literature review and proposed criteria. Building and Environment, 103: 193-202.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
DiLaura DL, Houser KW, Mistrick RG, Steffy GR (2011). The lighting handbook, 10th edn. New York: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.
 
Galasiu AD, Maref W, Saber HH (2015). High performance roofing and walls technologies: Task1, literature review on curtain walls. National Research Council Canada.
Crossref
 
Garfield L (2016). The ‘death ray hotel’ burning Las Vegas visitors came up with a simple fix. Business Insider. Available at https:// www.businessinsider.com/the-vdara-death-ray-hotel-is-still-burning-people-in-las-vegas-2016-6. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
Crossref
 
Glassner AS (1989). An Introduction to Ray Tracing. San Jose, CA, USA: Academic Press.
Crossref
 
Gobakis K, Kolokotsa D, Maravelaki-Kalaitzaki N, Perdikatsis V, Santamouris M (2015). Development and analysis of advanced inorganic coatings for buildings and urban structures. Energy and Buildings, 89: 196-205.
Google Scholar
 
Grobe LO, Noback A, Wittkopf S, Kazanasmaz T (2015). Comparison of measured and computed BSDF of a daylight redirecting component. In: Proceedings of International Conference CISBAT 2015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
 
Grobe LO (2019a). Photon mapping in image-based visual comfort assessments with BSDF models of high resolution. Journal of Building Performance Simulation, 12: 745-758.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Grobe LO (2019b). Photon-mapping in climate-based daylight modelling with high-resolution BSDFs. Energy and Buildings, 205: 109524.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Ichinose M, Inoue T, Nagahama T (2017). Effect of retro-reflecting transparent window on anthropogenic urban heat balance. Energy and Buildings, 157: 157-165.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Jakubiec JA, Reinhart CF (2014). Assessing disability glare potential of reflections from new construction: Case study analysis and recommendations for the future. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, 2449: 114-122.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Lee ES, Geisler-Moroder D, Ward G (2018). Modeling the direct sun component in buildings using matrix algebraic approaches: Methods and validation. Solar Energy, 160: 380-395.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Mardaljevic J (2000). Daylight simulation: Validation, sky models and daylight coefficients. PhD Thesis, De Montfort University, UK.
 
Mardaljevic J (2015). Climate-based daylight modelling and its discontents. Paper presented at the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) Technical Symposium 2015, London, UK.
 
McNeil A (2015). genBSDF tutorial. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Available at https://www.radiance-online.org/ learning/tutorials/Tutorial-genBSDF_v1.0.1.pdf. Accessed 20 Jul 2020.
 
Mitchell R, Kohler C, Klems JH, Rubin MD, Arasteh DK, et al. (2008). WINDOW 6.2/THERM 6.2 Research version user manual. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Available at https://escholarship.org/content/qt4rx784fq/qt4rx784fq.pdf. Accessed 20 Jul 2020.
 
NREL (2007). Typical Meteorological Year 3 (TMY3). EnergyPlus. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Available at https://energyplus.net/weather. Accessed 20 Jul 2020.
 
Reinhart CF, Walkenhorst O (2001). Validation of dynamic RADIANCE-based daylight simulations for a test office with external blinds. Energy and Buildings, 33: 683-697.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Santamouris M, Synnefa A, Karlessi T (2011). Using advanced cool materials in the urban built environment to mitigate heat islands and improve thermal comfort conditions. Solar Energy, 85: 3085-3102.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Saxena M, Ward G, Perry T, Heschong L, Higa R (2010). Dynamic Radiance-predicting annual daylighting with variable fenestration optics using BSDFs. Paper presented at the 4th National Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association, New York, USA.
 
Schregle R (2015). Development and integration of the Radiance photon map extension v1.12. Technical Report, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Switzerland.
 
Schregle R, Grobe LO, Wittkopf S (2016). An out-of-core photon mapping approach to daylight coefficients. Journal of Building Performance Simulation, 9: 620-632.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Schregle R, Renken C, Wittkopf S (2018). Spatio-temporal visualisation of reflections from building integrated photovoltaics. Buildings, 8: 101.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Shih NJ, Huang YS (2001). An analysis and simulation of curtain wall reflection glare. Building and Environment, 36: 619-626.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Subramaniam S (2017). Daylighting simulations with Radiance using matrix-based methods. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL). Available at https://www.radiance-online.org/learning/ tutorials/matrix-based-methods. Accessed 20 Jul 2020.
 
Suk JY (2007). Post-treatment analysis of the glare remediation of the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Master Thesis, University of Southern California, USA.
 
Suk JY, Schiler M, Kensek K (2017). Reflectivity and specularity of building envelopes: how materiality in architecture affects human visual comfort. Architectural Science Review, 60: 256-265.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Tregenza PR, Waters IM (1983). Daylight coefficients. Lighting Research & Technology, 15: 65-71.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Tregenza PR (1987). Subdivision of the sky hemisphere for luminance measurements. Lighting Research & Technology, 19: 13-14.
Crossref Google Scholar
 
Walker S (2012). Complex facades in sunny climates, microclimates, reflection caustics, Radiance workshop. Radiance Workshop 2012. Available at https://www.radiance-online.org/community/ workshops/2012-copenhagen/Day3/Walker/Steve%20Walker%20-%20Radiance%20workshop%202012%20-%20Greg%20Ward.pdf. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
 
Walker T (2013). Walkie Talkie architect ‘didn't realise it was going to be so hot’. The Telegraph. Available at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/ culture/culturenews/10292147/Walkie-Talkie-architect-blames-consultants-for-buildings-failures.html. Accessed 26 Feb 2019.
 
Wilcox S, Marion W (2018). Users manual for TMY3 data sets. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Available at https:// www.nrel.gov/docs/fy08osti/43156.pdf. Accessed 20 Jul 2020.
 
Yang XM, Grobe LO, Wittkopf S (2013). Simulation of reflected daylight from building envelopes. In: Proceedings of the 13th Conference of International Building Performance Simulation Association, Chambery, France.
Crossref
 
Yuan J, Farnham C, Emura K (2015). Development of a retro-reflective material as building coating and evaluation on albedo of urban canyons and building heat loads. Energy and Buildings, 103: 107-117.
Crossref Google Scholar
Building Simulation
Volume 14 Issue 3,
June 2021
Pages 549-564
DOI: 10.1007/s12273-020-0701-7
Cite this article:
Wang J, Wei M, Ruan X. Comparison of daylight simulation methods for reflected sunlight from curtain walls. Building Simulation, 2021, 14(3): 549-564. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-020-0701-7
Metrics & Citations  
Article History
Copyright
Return