IEQ assessment in free-running university classrooms

Abstract

Investigation of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in various types of buildings has currently evolved into a rather intense research activity. IEQ refers to the acceptable levels of thermal, visual and acoustic comfort in addition to Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). In the proposed work, a systematic measurement campaign in university classrooms in the Educational School of the University of Western Macedonia, Florina, Greece, is presented; the campaign was performed by the end of the Spring Semester, in free-running classrooms. Measurements include thermal comfort parameters, as well as IAQ ones, namely volatile organic compounds (VOCs), CO2 and NO2 concentration. Lighting and acoustic measurements are also performed, contributing to an integrated IEQ assessment. As far as thermal comfort is concerned, a questionnaire survey aims at providing insight into the validity of the examined comfort models, i.e., Fanger’s and adaptive one. CFD analysis, according to the DesignBuilder software, allows the investigation of spatial phenomena in terms of thermal comfort, as well as the evaluation of the effect of different scenarios regarding the degree of crowding in the classes and windows opening. All in all, the proposed analysis represents an integrated experimental and simulation approach, for the evaluation of IEQ of a demanding space.