Simulation of solar gains through external shading devices

The effectiveness of simple shading devices in reducing the direct, diffuse and ground reflected components of solar radiation has been measured and compared to simulation predictions of the same. The simulation results were found to be very sensitive to the value assumed for ground reflectance, and to the level of detail of the geometrical modelling of the shading devices. The best agreement total incident radiation was within 3% over the course of a day.