Some simple methods for reducing daylight simulation time

ABSTRACT

A significant barrier to routine use of Climate-Based Daylight Modelling in early design is the long time that it takes to run full annual simulations. Quick checks of design ideas are thus inconvenient, which discourages examining large numbers of design options or doing routine sensitivity analysis. Two ways of reducing required simulation time are to not simulate all the daytime hours of the year, or to simulate far fewer grid ‘measurement’ points. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of taking smaller samples of random days throughout the year to reduce simulation time. By using a selection process to select “representative” samples of hours, simulations using only 5 days/month provide results with <6% error in performance estimates – well within accepted tolerances. The paper also shows the insignificant difference in design information provided by oft-recommended dense sensor grids compared to a 5 × 3 or 10 × 5 grid across a room plan.

KEYWORDS:

• Climate-based-daylight-modelling
• daylighting
• simulation
• methodology

Acknowledgment

The paper is based on the following work and any associated research. James Sullivan and Michael Donn. In the proceedings of J. Zuo, L. Daniel, V. Soebarto (eds.), Fifty years later: Revisiting the role of architectural science in design and practice: 50th International Conference of the Architectural Science Association 2016, pp. 379–388, 2016, The Architectural Science Association and The University of Adelaide. Available on line. http://anzasca.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/39-1195-379-388.pdf.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.