Experimental validation for software DIALUX: application in CIE test Cases for building daylighting simulation

Ali Hamada Fakra (1) , Harry Boyer (1) , Fawaz Maamari

1 PIMENT - Physique et Ingénierie Mathématique pour l'Énergie, l'environnemeNt et le bâtimenT

DIALUX (www.dialux.com) is a freeware that simulate artificial and natural lighting outwards as well as inside the building. Interface of this software, functionalities suggested and outputs (realistic rendering as well as physical values) makes DIALUX widely used software in lighting design domains in Europe. Therefore, it was interesting to verify the accuracy of this software. While the software has already been tested with regards to artificial lighting simulations, there is no available information regarding its accuracy in daylighting simulation. Knowing that the software is already being used by consultancy firms for daylighting evaluations within green building design projects, it was important to assess daylighting functionalities in DIALUX. The reference data for the comparison measurements / simulation is based on experimental measurements to the scale model. Experimental study environment is an artificial sky imagined by the ENPTE (Ecole National des Travaux Public de l'Etat, Lyon, FRANCE) Laboratory. The recommendations used for experimental protocol are given by the task 3.33 of CIE technical committee (2005). One such study enables us to appreciate reliability of the software in relation to daylighting (natural lighting inside the building).

Mots clés: Dialux; scale model; artificial sky; benchmarking; CIE test; Daylighting

Domaines: Thermique [physics.class-ph]

Ali Hamada Fakra, Harry Boyer, Fawaz Maamari. Experimental validation for software DIALUX: application in CIE test Cases for building daylighting simulation. International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2008), Jul 2008, Dalian, China. ⟨hal-01198696⟩