Moore, ECB; (2008) Glare assessment methodologies and their application to the office environment: A study for the climate of Sydney, Australia. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

In recent years there is resurgence in the use of daylighting in office environments. This resurgence is partially being driven by the recognition of the benefits of daylight access to humans partially through advances in facade technology and partially through the growing use of green building tools such as Green Star, LEED and BREEAM. This growing use of daylight has many benefits including health benefits, productivity benefits, financial benefits, and ecological benefits. However, the use of daylight in offices must be carefully considered with it also potentially increasing the carbon cost of operating a building and negatively influencing the internal work environment through the introduction of glare. This paper will primarily focus on the issues surrounding daylight glare - glare associated with indirect light from the sun - in the office environment and its assessment. Two glare metrics have been selected daylight glare index (DGI), the recognised standard in the assessment of glare from large glares sources such as windows, and daylight glare probability (DGP) a recently developed metric for the assessment of glare that it is hoped will overcome some of the universally identified limitations of the DGI. The use of Radiance, a backward ray tracing software tool has been utilised in the assessments, based on a theoretical model where the two glare indices have been compared to help identify any similarities between them and to better understand some of the limitations of the tools available to the building designer. Further, a scripting tool has been developed to allow the visual representation of glare over the floor plate of a room, giving valuable feedback to the design team in the initial stages of a building design and the impact of various design options on occupant visual comfort. The comparison between DGI and DGP ahs shown there to be a degree of correlation between the two metrics in areas toward the rear of a daylit room, but that this correlation does not hold as we approach areas of extreme light levels, or where the observer has a large sky view. This lack of correlation has made it difficult to draw any conclusions on any comparison between the tools and it has been proposed that further study, using a more realistic representation of an office environment may help to determine which glare metric is pointing toward the correct response.

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