CALCULATION OF SOLAR-RADIATION INTERCEPTED BY NUBIAN VAULT AND DOME SHAPED BUILDINGS

This paper is concerned with the geometrical analysis of a Nubian vaul t and a hemispherical dome shaped building. From a rigorous analysis, exact expressions have been established for the angle of incidence of solar radiation at these surfaces. These expressions are then used to calculate the total incident solar radiation at different times and at various latitudes. Finally a comparison is made between the solar rad iation intercepted by a unit area of each of these building geometries and a flat geometry. For a reference block of 17.4 m(2) carpet area, it is found that for latitudes up to 40 degrees N, a Nubian vault form building envelope with East-West orientation receives minimum solar r adiation. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.