Opaque construction materials solar loads calculation: Dependence on directional reflectance

Abstract

Generally the solar reflectance associated to construction material surfaces is considered perfectly diffuse, namely they reflect in every direction the incident irradiance. Therefore reflectance and absorptance are assumed to be constant and independent on the incidence angles. This assumption, generally used in the most of energy analysis simulation tools, has to be considered not valid for materials characterized by a regular reflection, like glass or polished surfaces, where an angular dependence of their optical–radiative properties is observed. However, many opaque construction materials often show a mixed behavior, which includes regular and diffuse (or scattering) reflectance components. Moreover, the apparent roughness of the materials surface changes according to the angle of incidence of the solar irradiance. This issue is relevant for some cool materials, which are polished or treated with other methods to offer a very smooth surface, to increase the solar reflectance. In this work the dependence of opaque materials on the directional properties of their surfaces are investigated to assess the impact on solar loads and energy performances of the building envelope. The reflectance shape and the hemispherical values of two materials used for roofing are measured by means of a goniophotometer to characterize the directional reflectance. A numerical analysis was carried out to compute the differences in solar loads during cold and hot seasons between a reflectance angular dependent model and a constant reflectance model. Sensible discrepancies between the two models put in evidence that solar reflectance angular dependence should be included in the calculation tools to achieve more accurate results.