Characterization of translucent glazing units for the design and evaluation of indoor lighting

Natalia Bo, Paola Iacomussi, Giuseppe Rossi, Gian Paolo Scialpi, Michele Zinzi

Diffusing and redirecting glazing units are widely used in modern buildings for solar control, privacy reasons and visual comfort in the internal environment, lighted by daylight or artificial light. Many products are available on the market, different in terms of their visual appearance and optical properties. Different are, as a consequence, the
effects on the luminous quality and visual comfort in the built environment.

A detailed optical characterisation of these translucent systems is technically possible with adequate accuracy and can give important information about the way the natural light is driven into the building. This information can be used for simulating the real behaviour of the façade and of the lighted room, but generally manufactures do not specify exhaustive data.

A simplified index of performance can be derived from goniometric measurements and can be useful in the design phase, when selection of materials and roughly evaluation of
the incoming luminous flux values and directions are the designer needs.

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The Authors