Design the retrofit through different thermal comfort indexes: numerical and experimental study in a surgery block of Italian hospital

The present study aims to assess seasonal trends in thermal comfort and heat stress indices for outdoor occupations over a 15‐year period using the Iranian Meteorological Organization's database for Sari, Iran. Hourly and daily meteorological data including temperature, wind speed, cloudiness, relative humidity and vapor pressure measurements for Sari city from 2000 to 2014 are used. The wet‐bulb globe temperature (WBGT) and universal thermal climate index (UTCI) are calculated, along with thermal comfort indices including physiological equivalent temperature (PET), standard effective temperature (SET) and predicted mean vote (PMV).The highest and lowest mean monthly air temperature values for the 15‐year period were recorded for August (27.55 ± 0.57°C) and January (7.9 ± 0.68°C), respectively. The highest and lowest mean monthly relative humidity values were observed for December (81.2 ± 2.6%) and August (73.7 ± 1.94%), respectively. The strongest correlations were found between all of the thermal comfort and heat stress indices under study and air temperature (r = 0.97–0.99; P < 0.001), as well as all indices and mean radiant temperature (r = 0.96–0.98; P < 0.001). Strong significant correlations were observed between all heat stress and thermal comfort indices (r > 0.93; P < 0.001). The use of meteorological data can enable the prediction of physiologically stressful conditions via knowledge of the strong positive correlation between heat stress and certain physiological indices, as highlighted in this study.

While rapid urbanization promotes social and economic development, it exacerbates human outdoor thermal comfort, which increases the risks to human health. This paper uses four thermal comfort indices and multiple satellite observations to explore the urbanization effect on summer heat stress in Guangdong from 1979–2018, a coastal province of China. Two types of thermal comfort index are used here, namely the direct thermal comfort index (Heat Index, HI; Temperature–Humidity Index, THI; Discomfort Index, DI) and the physiological thermal comfort index (Universal Thermal Climate Index, UTCI). We compare the differences in the urbanization effects on the changes in the three direct thermal comfort indices (HI, THI, and DI) and a physiological thermal comfort index (UTCI). The results show that all four thermal comfort indices indicate an overall warming trend. Of them, urban sites show a higher warming trend than rural sites, indicating that heat stress changes are significantly influenced by urbanization from 1979–2018, which is consistent with the effect of urbanization on surface air temperature. However, except for the UTCI, this warming of direct thermal comfort indices affected by urbanization has become insignificant under the regional vegetation greening from 2004–2018 (also consistent with surface air temperature). This is primarily attributed to the different effects of wind speed on the physiological thermal comfort index in urban and rural areas: Decreasing wind speeds in urban areas lead to an increase in UTCI, while wind speeds in rural areas increase instead and decrease UTCI, thus widening the UTCI differences between urban and rural areas. Our results indicate that urbanization has a different effect on thermal comfort indices. When using the thermal comfort index, it is necessary to consider that different thermal comfort indices may bring different results. UTCI considers more factors that affect human heat perception, so it can better describe human outdoor thermal comfort. It also highlights the importance of urban ventilation and urban greenness in mitigating urban outdoor thermal comfort in the sustainable construction of future urbanization in coastal cities.

Research on indoor thermal comfort of expressway service building based on SPMV

Personalized thermal comfort inference using RGB video images for distributed HVAC control

Assessment of thermal comfort indices in an open air-conditioned stadium in hot and arid environment

Investigation into the differences among several outdoor thermal comfort indices against field survey in subtropics

Parametric analysis on the thermal comfort of a cooling tower based thermally activated building system in tropical climate – An experimental study

Outdoor thermal stress changes in South Korea: Increasing inter-annual variability induced by different trends of heat and cold stresses

Performance and carcass characteristics of steers fed with two levels of metabolizable energy intake during summer and winter season

Unsteady simulation of energy performance and thermal comfort in non-residential buildings

Developing a new thermal comfort prediction model and web-based application for heat stress assessment in dairy cows

Spatiotemporal variations on infrared temperature as a thermal comfort indicator for cattle under agroforestry systems.

This paper investigates the relationship between Indoor Environmental Quality index (IEQ): thermal comfort index and indoor temperature trend in moderate thermal environments, in buildings that belong to the Class A with reference to the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD). The work consists of the measurement of IAQ and energy efficiency in a residential building located in centre-north of Italy, namely Ravenna. The results of the measurements, as well as the PMV-PPD indexes, are presented and commented. These indexes could be a criteria to test if EPBD labelling building could be coherent with EN 15251 requirements.

This study assessed thermal conditions in and around two typical buildings on a university campus in Akure, Nigeria. One of the buildings was shaded by trees, while the other was unshaded. The aim is to evaluate the effect of vegetation (tree shading) on indoor and outdoor thermal comfort. Air temperature and relative humidity were measured simultaneously inside and outside both buildings for six months (September 2010 to February 2011). Results show that the unshaded building is generally less comfortable in comparison with the tree-shaded one, especially during the daytime. The unshaded building becomes less comfortable as early as 10:00 h during the dry season, and that can even extend till around 18:00 h during the wet season. Also, the outdoor area around the tree-shaded building is more thermally comfortable than around the unshaded one, irrespective of the season. A strong relationship between outdoor and indoor comfort conditions, irrespective of seasonal or diurnal variations and thermal comfort index, also emerged. While the positive role of tree shading in thermal comfort is not new, this study contributes additional evidence from an understudied sub-Saharan African region like Nigeria. It points to the need for tree planting (greening) as a means to improve thermal comfort in Nigerian cities.

Microclimatic analysis of outdoor thermal comfort of high-rise buildings with different configurations in Tehran: Insights from field surveys and thermal comfort indices