Assessment improvement of visual comfort using computational simulation — a case study in a light-controlled classroom

Abstract

The visual comfort of human being has been gradually considered in high performance building since the higher living quality and lower energy use requirements. Good lighting layout is more and more important, especially in classroom for the students' vision. The number and location of light sources are traditionally determined by the experimented engineer or technician. However, un-precise results are often derived from modern lighting system. In this study, the computational simulation process is introduced to analyze the visual comfort in a light-controlled classroom as well as control the on/off switch of light under specific requirement. First, the 3D model of a small classroom is constructed by the commercial software, 3ds Max Design. The properties of materials and artificial lights are allocated on the indoor furniture and ceiling, respectively. Experimental results were implemented to verify the feasibility of simulation results for two lighting conditions. Good agreement is shown that the illuminance at the measured points has smaller error in verification test. Visual comfort assessment is examined in different lighting distribution of the classroom. The suitable lighting allocation under various working situation can be provided by the precise results from computer simulation. This simulation process is advantageous to further design in the lighting system with modern technology.