The document CIE 171:2006 published by the International Commission on Illumination « Test Cases to Assess the Accuracy of Lighting Computer Programs» defines a series of tests and reference results by analytical calculation. The purpose of this document (cf. document CIE): « The objective of this report is to help lighting program users and developers assess the accuracy of lighting computer programs and to identify their weaknesses. A validation approach is therefore presented based on the concept of separately testing the different aspects of light propagation. To apply this approach, a suite of test cases has been designed where each test case highlights a given aspect of the lighting simulation domain and is associated with the related reference data. Two types of reference data are used: data based on analytical calculation and data based on experimental measurements. The first is associated with theoretical scenarios that avoid uncertainties in the reference values. The second type is obtained through experimental measurements, where the scenario and the protocol are defined in a manner that minimizes the uncertainties associated with the measurements.»
We calculated this set of tests with DL-Light version 15. This document presents the results.
As light and heat are both conveyed by the energy flux from the sun and the sky, the study of a project needs information on luminous and thermal aspects of the project, in particular as luminous and thermal ambience are related. In that respect, the Watt module has been developed in DL-Light in order to provide information on the irradiation from the sky and the sun on exterior surfaces of the 3D model.
In order to validate the results of the simulation of our watt module, we decided to compare its results to results given by the main software of building engineering. We used the procedure defined in norm ANSI/ASHRAE 140-2011 and compared our results to the ones of other software.