MODELS FOR

RADIATION
ANALYSIS
Dr. M. Rizwan
Khan
Associate Professor 1
The earth is nearly spherical with a diameter of about 7,900 miles
(12.7 x 103 km).

It makes one rotation about its axis every 24 hours and completes a
revolution about the sun in a period of approximately 365 1/4 days.

The earth revolves around the sun in a nearly circular path, with the
sun located slightly off centre of the circle. The earth's mean distance
to the sun is about 9.3 x 107 miles (1.5 x 108 km).

Around January 1, the earth is closest to the sun while on around July
1 it is most remote, about 3.3% farther away.

2
Since the intensity of solar radiation incident upon the top of the
atmosphere varies inversely with the square of the earth-sun distance,
the earth receives about seven per cent more radiation in January than
in July.

The earth's axis of rotation is tilted 23.5 degrees with respect to its
orbit about the sun.

Together with the earth's daily rotation and yearly revolution, it

accounts for the distribution of solar radiation over the earth's surface,
the changing length of hours of daylight and darkness, and the
changing of the seasons.

3
Figure 1 shows the effect of the earth's tilted axis at
various times of the year.

Figure 2 shows the position of the earth relative to the sun's rays at the
time of winter solstice. At the winter solstice (around December 22),
the North Pole is inclined 23.5 degrees away from the sun.

All points on the earth's surface north of 66.5 degrees north latitude
are in total darkness while all regions within 23.5 degrees of the South
Pole receive continuous sunlight. At the time of the summer solstice
(around June 22), the situation is reversed.

At the times of the two equinoxes (around March 22 and September

22), both poles are equidistant from the sun and all points on the
earth's surface have 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness.
4
Figure 1: The earth's revolution about the sun
5
Figure 2: Position of the earth in relation to the sun's rays at
time of winter solstice
6
 Solar Time: It is the time based on the apparent angular motion
of the sun across the sky, with solar noon defined as the time
the sun crosses the meridian of the observer.
At solar noon, the sun is at the highest position in the sky.
Standard time: is the time given by local clock. Solar time is
the time used in all of the sun-angle relationships, it does not
coincide with local clock time (standard time).
The sun traverses each degree of longitude in 4 minutes. It is
necessary to convert standard time to solar time by applying
two correction, as follow:

Solar time = Standard time + 4(Lst (1)

Lloc) + E

7
 (2)

and n is the day of the year, 1 < n < 365

8
Fig. 3 Equation of time E in min, as a function of time of year

9
 It has to be remembered that:
The equation of time, E, and displacement from the standard
meridian, are both in minutes.
There is a 60-min difference between daylight saving time and
standard time.
Time is usually specified in hours and minutes.
Care must be exercised in applying the corrections between standard
time and solar time, which can total more than 60 min.

10
 Solar Radition Geometry
The angle of incidence depends upon
i. Location on earth
ii. Time of the day, and
iii. Day of the year
The above three parameters are defined in terms of latitude, hour
angle and declination, respectively.

Figure 4 shows the position of a point P on the northern hemisphere

of the earth, whose center is at point O. Since the distance between
earth and sun is very large, for all practical purposes it can be
considered that the suns rays are parallel to each other when they
reach the earth.

11
Fig.4: Definition of latitude (l), declination (d) and
hour angles (h)

12
 With reference to Fig.4, the various solar angles are defined as
follows:
Latitude, l: It is the angle between the lines joining O and P and the
projection of OP on the equatorial plane, i.e.,

Thus the latitude along with the longitude indicates the position of
any point on earth and it varies from 0o at equator to 90o at the
poles.

Hour angle, h: It is the angle between the projection of OP on the

equatorial plane i.e., the line OA and the projection of the line
joining the center of the earth to the center of the sun, i.e., the line
OB. Therefore,

13
14
 Declination, d: The declination is the angle between the line joining
the center of the earth and sun and its projection on the equatorial
plane, the angle between line OO and line OB;

The declination is positive when the sun's rays are north of the
equator and negative when they are south of the equator. At the time
of the winter solstice, the sun's rays are 23.5 degrees south of the
earth's equator (d = -23.5). At the time of the summer solstice, the
sun's rays are 23.5 degrees north of the earth's equator (d = 23.5). At
the equinoxes, the sun's declination is zero.

The declination angle throughout the year can be well approximated

by a sine function:

15
 degrees (3)

where N is the day of the year numbered from January 1st. Thus on
March 6th, N is 65 (65th day of the year) and from the above
equation, declination on March 6th is equal to - 6.4o.

DERIVED SOLAR ANGLES

In addition to the three basic solar angles, i.e., the latitude, hour
angle and declination, several other angles have been defined (in
terms of the basic angles), which are required in the solar radiation
calculations.

Figure 5 shows a schematic of one apparent solar path and defines

the altitude angle (), zenith angle () and solar azimuth angle ().
It can be shown by analytical geometry that these angles are given
by:
16
Fig.5: Definition of altitude angle, zenith angle and
solar azimuth angle

17
 Altitude angle, : It is the angle between the suns rays and the
projection of suns rays onto a horizontal plane as shown in Fig.5.
The expression for altitude angle is given by:.

(4)

Zenith angle, : It is the angle between suns rays and the surface
normal to the horizontal plane at the position of the observer. It can
be seen from Fig.5 that:

(5)

The altitude angle is maximum at solar noon. Since the hour

angle, h is 0o at solar noon, the maximum altitude angle max (solar
noon) on any particular day for any particular location is given by
substituting the value of h = 0o in the expression for given above
eqn.(4) thus it can be easily shown that:
18
 (6)

where l(l d)l is the absolute value of (l-d).

The equation for altitude angle can also be used for finding the time
of sunrise, sunset and sunshine hours as the altitude angle is 0 o at
both sunrise and sunset (Fig. 5). Thus from the equation for , at
sunrise and sunset = 0, hence the hour angle at sunrise and sunset
is given by:

(7)

From the hour angle one can calculate the sunrise, sunset and total
sunshine hours as the sunrise and sunset are symmetrical about the
solar noon.

19
 Solar azimuth angle, : As shown in Fig.5, the solar azimuth angle is
the angle in the horizontal plane measured from north to the
horizontal projection of the suns rays. It can be shown that the solar
azimuth angle is given by:

(8)

At solar noon when the hour angle is zero, the solar azimuth
angle is equal to 180o, if the latitude, l is greater than declination,
d, and it is equal to 0o if l < d. The solar azimuth angle at solar
noon is not defined for l = d.

20
 A summary of the sign convention is:
l: north latitudes are positive, south latitudes are negative.
d: the declination is positive when the sun's rays are north of the
equator, i.e. for the summer period in the northern hemisphere,
March 22 to September 22 approximately, and negative when the
sun's rays are south of the equator.
h: the hour angle is negative before solar noon and positive after
solar noon.
: the sun's azimuth angle is negative east of south and positive west
of south.

21
 Incident angle of suns rays, : The incident angle of suns rays , is
the angle between suns rays and the normal to the surface under
consideration. The angle of incidence depends on the solar geometry
and also the orientation of the surface.

For horizontal surfaces: For horizontal surfaces (Fig.6) the angle of

incidence hor is equal to the zenith angle, , i.e.,

(9)

Fig.6: Incident angle for a

horizontal surface
22
 For vertical surfaces: Figure 7 shows an arbitrarily orientated vertical
surface (shaded) that is exposed to solar radiation. The angle of
incidence of solar radiation on the vertical surface depends upon the
orientation of the wall, i.e., east facing, west facing etc. Additional
angles have to be defined to find the angle of incidence on the vertical
walls.

Fig.7: Calculation of
incident solar angle for
23
vertical surfaces
 Referring to Fig.7, the following additional angles are defined:
Wall solar azimuth angle, : This is the angle between normal to the
wall and the projection of suns rays on to a horizontal plane.

Surface azimuth angle, : This is the angle between the normal to

the wall and south. Thus when the wall is facing south, then the
surface azimuth angle is zero and when it faces west, then the
surface azimuth angle is 90o and so on. The angle is taken as +ve if
the normal to the surface is to the west of south and ve if it is to the
east of south.
From Fig.7 it can be seen that the wall solar azimuth angle, is given
by:

(10
)

The factor F is -1 for forenoon and +1 for afternoon.

24
 Now it can be shown that the angle of incidence on the vertical
surface, ver is given by:

(11
)

For an arbitrarily oriented surfaces: For any surface that is tilted at an

angle from the horizontal as shown in Fig. 8, the incident angle is
given by:

(12
)

25
 This equation is a general equation and can be used for any
arbitrarily oriented surface. For example, for a horizontal surface,
is 0o, hence hor is equal to (90-) as shown earlier.
Similarly for a vertical surface, is 90o, hence ver is equal to cos-
1(cos .cos ), as shown before.

Fig.8: An arbitrarily oriented

surface with a tilt angle
26
 EXTRATERRESTRIAL RADIATION ON A
HORIZONTAL SURFACE, (Go)
At any point of time the solar radiation outside the atmosphere
incident on a horizontal plane is:

(19
)

where Gsc, is the solar constant and n is the day of the year.
27
 DAILY EXTRATERRESTRIAL RADIATION
ON A HORIZONTAL SURFACE, (Ho)
It is often necessary for calculation of daily solar radiation to have
the integrated daily extraterrestrial radiation on a horizontal surface,
Ho.
This is obtained by integrating Go over the period from sunrise to
sunset.
If Go is expressed in W/m2 and Ho, in J/m2 , it is possible to write:

(20
)

where s, is the sunset hour angle (ino)

28
 MONTHLY MEAN DAILY EXTRATERRESTRIAL
RADIATION ON A HORIZONTAL SURFACE,

The Monthly mean Daily Extraterrestrial radiation

For latitudes in the range +60 to -60can be calculated, with good

approximation, with the above equation. An over-bar is typically
used to indicate a monthly average quantity.
The monthly mean day is a day which has the Ho closest to
monthly mean daily extra-terrestrial radiation.

29
 HOURLY EXTRATERRESTRIAL RADIATION
ON A HORIZONTAL SURFACE, (Io)

It is also of interest to calculate the extraterrestrial radiation on a

horizontal surface for an hour period. Integrating equation 19 for a
period between hour angles 1 and 2 which define an hour (where
2 is the larger):

(21
)

The limits 1 and 2 may define a different time other than an hour.

30
 ESTIMATION OF SOLAR RADIATION ON
HORIZONTAL SURFACE FOR CLOUDY SKIES

MONTHLY AVERAGE DAILY GLOBAL RADIATION

The first attempt at estimating solar radiation was due to angstrom
who suggested that it could be related to the amount of sunshine by
linear relation of the form:

where H is the monthly average daily global radiation on a horizontal

surface (MJ.m-2.day-1), Ho the monthly average daily extraterrestrial
radiation on a horizontal surface (MJ.m-2.day-1), S the monthly average
daily hours of bright sunshine, So the monthly average day length, and a
and b values are known as Angstrom constants and they are empirical.
31
 The values of the monthly average daily extraterrestrial irradiation (H o)
can be calculated from the below equation (Duffie and Beckman,
1991):

The monthly average daily extraterrestrial solar radiation on the

horizontal surface is computed by taking the values of a single day
(close to monthly mean values) for every month of the year by
using days suggested by Klein (1977), which are representing the
individual month. The dates on which the value of Ho is closest to

The proposed days were; 17th of January and July, 16th of February, March
and August, 15th of April, May, September and October, 14th of November,
11th of June, and 10th of December.
32
 Where ISC is the solar constant (=1367 W m-2), the latitude of the site,
the solar declination, ws the mean sunrise hour angle for the given month,
and n the number of days of the year starting from the first of January.

The solar hour angle is equal to zero at solar noon and varies by 15 per
hour from the solar noon.

The solar declination () and the mean sunrise hour angle (w s ) can be
calculated by the following equations:

33
 For a given month, the maximum possible sunshine duration
(monthly average day length ( So) which is related to ws, the mean
sunrise hour angle can be computed by using the below equation

Then, the monthly average daily global radiation H was normalized by

dividing with monthly mean of daily extraterrestrial radiation H o .

34
 MONTHLY AVERAGE DAILY DIFFUSE RADIATION
Based on study of data for a few countries, Liu and Jordan showed
that the daily diffuse-to-global radiation ratio could be correlated
against daily global-to-extra-terrestrial radiation ratio. The
correlation was expressed by the following equation:

kJ/m2-day

Where, Hd is the monthly average of the daily diffuse radiation on a

horizontal surface.
We can define clearness index (KT) as the ratio of the
global/observed/measured horizontal terrestrial solar radiation H, to the
calculated/predicted horizontal/extraterrestrial solar radiation H o.

35
 For Indian conditions where the diffuse component is relatively
larger, the following correlation is found to predict diffused
radiation with an accuracy of about 10 percent.

Hd/H = 1.354-1.570KT

Where,

The correlation is valid in the range 0.3 < KT < 0.7.

36
 MONTHLY AVERAGE HOURLY GLOBAL RADIATION

The monthly average hourly global radiation at a location can be

calculated by using the relation proposed by Collares-Pereira and Rabl

Where,
a = 0.409 + 0.5016 sin(ws- 60o) and
b = 0.6609 0.4767sin(ws- 60o)

Ig = monthly average of the hourly global radiation a horizontal surface

(kW-h/m2),
I0= monthly average of the hourly extraterrestrial radiation a horizontal
surface (kWh/m2)
w = hour angle at a particular time.

37
 MONTHLY AVERAGE HOURLY DIFFUSE RADIATION

Liu and Jordan have suggested the following relation for estimating
the monthly average hourly diffuse radiation

Id/Hd = Io/Ho

Satyamurty and Lahiri have therefore suggested the following

improved relation

Id/Hd = Io/Ho
where,
a= 0.4922+{0.27/( Hd/Hg)} for 0.1 ( Hd/Hg) 0.7
a= 0.76+{0.113/( Hd/Hg)} for 0.7 ( Hd/Hg) 0.9
and

38
 DAILY AND HOURLY DIFFUSED RADIATION ON AN
INDIVIDUAL DAY
Normally, global radiation is recorded at many location whereas
diffused radiation is not. Therefore, correlations have been
suggested to predict daily and hourly diffused radiation from
measured daily and hourly global-radiation data resp.

Correlation for daily diffused radiation

Hd/H = 0.99 for KT 0.7

=1.188-2.272 KT + 9.437 KT2 21.856 KT3 +14.648 KT4

for 0.17 KT 0.8

where, KT = H/Ho is the daily clearance index for an individual day.

39
 On the same lines, correlation have also been developed for
estimating hourly diffused radiation Id from measured value of
hourly global radiation.

Id/Ig = a b kT for 0.35 kT 0.75

where, kT = Ig/Io, is the hourly clearness index at an hour of an
individual day.
a = 0.949 + 0.0118
b = 1.185 + 0.0135
and, = latitude in degrees

40
 HOURLY GLOBAL, DIFFUSE AND BEAM RADITIONS ON
HORIZONTAL SURFACE UNDER CLOUDLESS SKIES

The hourly global radiation Ig on a horizontal surface is the sum of

the hourly beam radiation, Ib and the hourly diffuse radiation Id.
Thus:
Ig = I b + I d
Now, if Ibn is the beam radiation on a surface normal to the direction
of sun rays, the beam radiation received on a horizontal surface may
be given as:
Ib = Ibn cosz

Thus, Ig = Ibn cosz + Id

In the ASHRAE model, Ibn and Id are estimated as follows:
Ibn = Aexp(-B/cosz)
Id = C Ibn
41
 Where A, B and C are constants whose values have been determined
month-wise on the basis of measurements carried out in USA. The
values are tabulated in the below table.

42
 SOLAR RADIATION ON AN TILTED SURFACES

The incident solar irradiation on a tilted surface is the sum of a set of

radiation streams including beam radiation, diffuse radiation from
the sky, and the radiation reflected from the ground and
surroundings.
The total incident radiation (HT) on tilted surface can be written as in
the following form:

HT = HT,b + HT,r + HT,d

where HT is the monthly total incident radiation on a tilted surface,
HT,b is beam radiation, HT,r is ground reflected, and HT,d is diffuse
component on an inclined surface. The beam radiation on tilted plane
HT,b is given by:

43
 Where, Hb is monthly mean daily beam radiation on horizontal
surface, and Rb is the ratio of mean daily beam radiation on the tilted
surface to that on a horizontal surface.
Basically, Rb is a function of transmittance of atmosphere, which is
equal to (HT,b/Hb) and be determined by the following expression for
the surfaces that are sloped towards the equator (=0)in the northern
hemisphere.

Rb

Where, wsis the sunset hour angle for tilted surfaces of the month
under consideration, which is expressed as:

44
The minimum value of either relationship from can be used for the
calculation of Rb. The ground reflected radiation on tilted surface
HT,r is composed of diffuse reflectance (g)from the ground (also
called ground albedo) and a view factor(Fc-g) , which is expressed
as:

where represents the slope of the PV array. The ground reflectance (g

) is taken as 0.2 in a condition that the mean monthly temperature is
greater than 0C and its value could be taken as 0.7 if the temperature is
less than -5C.
45
 DIFFUSE RADIATION ON TILTED SURFACE
It was assumed that the diffuse radiation is isotropic only, Hence,

The overall formula for computing the total radiation on tilted

surface is proposed as sum of beam, earth reflected and isotropic
diffuse radiation. Thus HT is given as follows:

46