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Designerly optimization of devices (as reflectors) to improve daylight and scrutiny of the light-well’s configuration

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Abstract

One of the most effective ways of transmitting daylight into deep-plan buildings is to generate light-well for spaces away from the facade and window-less spaces. Among the limited methods of improving daylight efficiency in light-wells are reflectors that, as a surplus member of the wells, can aid in this improvement. A scrutiny of the light-well’s configuration can give a correct perception of the performance of the well’s walls with increasing the reflection coefficient to the designers in deciding where to install the openings, selecting the transmittance coefficient of glass, etc. In this paper, the main focus is designing and optimizing daylight assist devices on light-wells that can hierarchically reflect light from the sky to the bottom of the well (Device 1) and then emit into the desired space (Device 2). The research highlights that it is necessary to find a proper strategy for the devices regarding to the optimization process. The research design results in a comprehensive standard solution for different latitudes. The simulations were performed by Honeybee Plus version 0.0.06 and Honeybee-Ladybug version 0.0.69-0.0.66, which has the ability to simulate annual daylight performance at certain periods. Due to the maximum and minimum altitudes at any latitude, the study required time-criteria throughout the year. As a result, a cross-sectional study was carried out at two critical times: the first period (P1) and the second period (P2). Daylight metrics for analyzing configuration as well as evaluating devices are E’max,avg (illumination) and SHA (hour/m2). The DA’300 and DA’max2000 metrics were selected to measure daylight efficiency and glare risk, respectively, and the sDA is for the amount of floor area that uses enough daylight. Also, to better percept how to prepare improved-daylight at lower levels (especially for the performance of devices), the daylight autonomy has been reduced from 50% to 40% and a metric such as sDA’t40 has been created.

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Abbreviations

D1:

reflector on light-well aperture

D2:

reflector at bottom of the light-well

DA:

daylight autonomy

DA’max:

maximum daylight autonomy

E’max,avg:

maximum illuminance averagely

P1:

5 May to 5 August

P2:

5 November to 5 February

sDA:

spatial daylight autonomy

sDA’t40:

sDA to target 40% daylight autonomy

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the Department of Architecture’s scientific support, Tarbiat Modares University (TMU). We also thank Dr. Mansour Yeganeh (supervisor of Modeling and Fabrication Laboratory; TMU), and Dr. Kia Tadayon (specialist in Grasshopper’s plugins and Parametric Modeling). Also special thanks to the Ladybug community for aiding us in this research (Chris Mackey, Mostapha Sadeghipour Roudsari; co-founders at Ladybug Tools and Sarith Subramaniam; researcher in University of Kaiserslautern).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Architecture, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

    Ali Goharian, Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad, Mohammadreza Bemanian & Khosro Daneshjoo

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  1. Ali Goharian
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  2. Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad
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  3. Mohammadreza Bemanian
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  4. Khosro Daneshjoo
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Correspondence to Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad.

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Goharian, A., Mahdavinejad, M., Bemanian, M. et al. Designerly optimization of devices (as reflectors) to improve daylight and scrutiny of the light-well’s configuration. Build. Simul. 15, 933–956 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12273-021-0839-y

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