Ecotect & Radiance - Result Validation

[swaminathan.sekar]

Hi,

I am using Ecotect and desktop radiance to do daylighting simulation for our projects. Due to technical problem, my computer has crashed. Then its formatted.

Right now I have installed the Ecotect and desktop radiance. But I don’t know whether the desktop radiance is giving valid result.

How to check the results with my system. Please help.

Regards,

S.Swaminathan

[Pennetier1]

Hi swaminathan.sek, 

Desktop Radiance is indeed what to be used with Ecotect. I know it hasn't been updated in ages, but that is the only Radiance engine that interfaces with Ecotect.  I use it quite often for daylighting and to some extent artificial lighting analyses and it gives acceptable results.

To really make the most out of Radiance and get the most accurate results, I would advise creating your own materials radiance files (.rad) instead of letting Ecotect create them.  It takes some times to do so but it really makes a difference, especially for special glazing materials such as transluscent glazings.

If you want to test your results, you might want to use a daylighting example already worked out (sometimes I use examples from daylighting books, modeling the same conditions) and reproducing it in Ecotect and Radiance. Also, using some of the online tutorials should let you know if you get the correct results.

Keep in mind that because these will only be simulations, it is never going to be the exact real-life results, but should be in the ball park. Use the simulation results to compare the differences of one design option versus another.

Cheers,