Modelling and simulation of virtual natural lighting solutions with complex views

In situations where daylight is insufficiently available, Virtual Natural Lighting Solutions (VNLS) can be promising to turn currently unused floor space into spaces with enough daylight qualities. This article introduces VNLS models with complex image scenes pasted on a transparent glass surface in front of arrays of small, directional white light sources. The objectives are twofold: the first one is to understand the effect of changing input variables, i.e. beam angle, total luminous flux of the “sky” elements, and image scene itself, on the lighting performance of a reference office space. The second objective is to compare two techniques of modelling the view, i.e. transmissive and emissive approaches, using Radiance. Sensitivity analysis of the simulation results show that under every image scene, the total luminous flux of the “sky” element is largely influential to the space availability, whereas the beam angle of the “sky” element is largely influential to the other output variables, including discomfort glare. The findings lead to a suggestion of preferred elements in the image scene, to ensure large space availability and uniformity. The transmissive approach generally generates smaller values of space availability, and largely depends on the view elements of the image scene. In turn, the average probability of discomfort glare using the transmissive approach is smaller than that using the emissive approach.