Straight light pipes’ daylighting: A case study for different climatic zones

•Straight light pipe efficiency is qualified and quantified in a few climatic zones.•Numerical experiments are made for situations with intense sunlight.•The optical properties obtained can be useful for optimum lightguide designing.•The results are used to build a new database of the light pipe optical parameters. A comprehensive study of straight light pipe efficiency and illuminance distribution below ceiling level is performed using HOLIGILM tool. The recommendations for light guide systems can be made for different latitudes and sky luminance patterns using the data computed here. The computational results show that the light pipe transmittance is a monotonic function of solar altitude, except for low-sun angles. Redistribution of photons at the light pipe base can be characterized by a scalar value called “asymmetry parameter”, g. A use of g is an efficient attempt to the classification of a large number of luminous intensity distributions. The minimum value of g is at low solar elevations (between 10° and 30°) because of balanced contribution of diffuse light of a sky and the direct sunbeams. The low values of g indicate the redistribution of light is more uniform. Luminous intensity solid determined by means of HOLIGILM tool is used to compute illuminance distribution at a working plane. The peak intensity and intensity gradient of a bright ring projected onto a working plane can be used to characterize the optical properties of different light pipes in different climatic zones.