Radiant systems and solar-driven overheating: A comprehensive literature analysis over a decade

Radiant systems are becoming increasingly popular owing to their array of advantages, such as enhanced thermal comfort, decreased energy consumption, quiet operation, and streamlined design. Thus, a plethora of investigations on radiant systems have been ongoing for six to seven decades. On the other side, specific issues of the influence of solar gains on thermal comfort within high-glazed buildings equipped with radiant systems are specifically identified in interseason. This is attributed to the growing prevalence of commercial buildings with extensive use of curtain walls. A comprehensive review and systematic examination are needed to mitigate overheating effect in such buildings. This review aims to establish a state-of-the-art investigating in-depth the impact of solar gains on the thermal response of cooling and heating radiant systems and overheating mitigation. It covers a wide range of topics including thermal comfort, solar radiation, design of space cooling and heating systems, through experimental observations and numerical analysis. Potential solutions are identified including active and passive techniques integrated into the built environment to eliminate or mitigate overheating.