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The use of the new ISO/CIE Standard General Sky offers some new challenges for lighting designers. The MAMmodeller package described in this study provides a user-friendly tool for visualizing each of the SSLD 15 models in simple design contexts. The method of aperture meridians (MAM) provides a relatively simple geometric framework to estimate the appearance of the sky as a luminance map in the window opening, as seen from a point of interest inside the room. In addition, the total horizontal illuminance at the same point is estimated. This provides the user or designer with a quick tool for undertaking preliminary design investigations. MAMmodeller is not a complete lighting design tool, it considers only sunlight and the diffuse light component from the sky entering through the window opening. It does not account for internal reflections, artificial lighting, or external reflections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the recent publication of the CIE Standard General Sky, adopted as an ISO Standard, an Application Guide is expected to be prepared by CIE Technical Committee 3-37 with the aim of explaining and simplifying its practical use. The advantage of the 15 Standard Sky Luminance Distributions (SSLD) adopted by CIE and ISO in relative terms normalized to zenith luminance is not only in the more versatile definition of skylight in various locales and daylight climate regions, but also in the possibility of simulating annual daylight profiles in absolute units based on typical luminance sky patterns. As well as complex computer programs for producing isoluminance contours in plan projections of the sky vault, a simpler tool is needed to calculate absolute sky luminance within the solid angle of arbitrarily dimensioned apertures, especially vertical windows. With this objective in mind, the Method of Aperture Meridians or MAM for any SSLD is introduced in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This work studies the illuminance levels at a city in Central Europe (Bratislava) and another in the Eastern Mediterranean (Athens) and defines the prevailing sky-luminance distributions for winter and summer. The data used are 5-min values of global and diffuse horizontal irradiance and illuminance along with zenith luminance from the IDMP stations at the two cities for a period of 5 years. The study is based on the new set of the sky types recently adopted by CIE. These sky standards correspond to 15 theoretical diagrams of the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse horizontal illuminance against solar altitude. The theoretical curves converge above of solar elevation and in many cases they intersect each other. For this reason, each observation is classified into one of the 15 sky standards, only when the value of the ratio of zenith luminance to diffuse horizontal illuminance lies in a zone of around the theoretical curve describing the specific category. If any observation is classified into more than one sky standards, the corresponding ratio of global horizontal illuminance to extraterrestrial horizontal illuminance is compared to the average ratio of the sky types implicated, for the same solar altitude, and the observation is classified in the sky type with the nearest value. It is found that the most frequent sky types for Bratislava are the overcast sky with steep luminance gradation and slight brightening towards the sun (winter) and the white–blue sky with a distinct solar corona (summer), while for Athens the cloudless polluted sky prevails in both seasons. It is also found that during a summer day, a noticeable shift appears in the sky-luminance distribution at both sites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]