Tunnel Illumination: Algorithm to Determine Standard Values of Luminance in Tunnel Zones Using C Programming Language Approach

Abstract

Tunnel illumination design involves complex mathematical computation, cumbersome, and tedious to perform when done by hand. This paper proposes an algorithm to compute luminance and luminous flux of the different zones of the tunnel by following the International Commission on Illumination (CIE88:2004) standard design guidelines using the C programming language. The luminance and the luminous flux values of all the zones were calculated and compared with the CIE standard. The energy consumption of each zone is equally found to control and reduce energy wastage and payment of unwanted bills. The threshold zone length Lth, average luminance in the first half Lav, and the last half of the threshold zone are 40 m, 400 cd/m2, and 240 cd/m2, respectively, while the average luminance of the transition and interior zones are, respectively, 95.87 cd/m2 and 5.86 cd/m2. The results obtained were satisfying. The computational results showed that the proposed Algorithm could be used to design an efficient tunnel illumination system with less energy waste.