EXPLORING THE OPTIMISTIC DAYLIGHTING DESIGN METHOD: IS COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION ACCURATE ENOUGH? (PP26, 346-355)

The technology of architecture daylighting design method, especially computational simulation method, has been developing quickly. Computational simulation software are currently the most widely used software for architecture daylighting design. The accuracy of computational simulation is limited when applied on long-span space public buildings, especially those are used for long hours, e.g. airport terminal. This study present an experiment that verify the accuracy of computational simulation method applied to one of the long-span spaces: airport terminal. In this study, both simulation and on-site measurement were taken for comparison. Experiment result (87 % relative error larger than 25 % in all data) shows that using the simulation software (Autodesk Ecotect Analysis® and Radiance®) for the lighting design of airport buildings is not accurate enough. To further improve the accuracy of simulation on daylighting design, artificial sky as a physical simulation tool used to simulate skylight has been showing great potential for development.