Annual radiation discomfort: A new climate-based framework for modeling short-wave solar radiation in indoor spaces

Abstract

Controlling the incoming solar radiation is one of the main responsibilities of sustainable building designers, in order to minimize glare and cooling loads and maximize thermal comfort and usable daylight. However most solar shading design neglects or underestimates the direct impact of indoor sunlight on occupant thermal comfort. In an effort to make the thermal impacts of transmitted solar radiation more accessible to designers, this research presents a new climate-based annual framework for the calculation of the hourly effective radiant field (ERF), and delta mean radiant temperature (AMRT) across indoor spaces with complex geometries and façade types. It also proposes a new "Annual Radiation Discomfort" (ARD) metric for comprehensively assessing the effect of solar radiation on comfort throughout a space.