Overall and local thermal sensation & comfort in air-conditioned dormitory with hot-humid climate

Abstract

This study aims to investigate students' overall and local thermal sensation & comfort in air-conditioned dormitories of university. A field survey was conducted in air-conditioned dormitories in Changsha, a big city in south of China with hot-humid climate in summer. This survey combined environmental parameters measurements and questionnaires. The obtained results indicated that head exerted the highest influence on overall thermal sensation, followed by calf and foot, then the influences of chest and back were comparatively lower. Such a result can be explained by physiological, environmental and local-disturbed factors. As for overall thermal comfort, it was determined by the most and the second most comfortable body parts. In this study, those two body parts usually went to head and chest. Characteristics of body parts and indoor environment explained the relationship between overall and local thermal comfort. Moreover, in most cases, overall comfort was higher than local comfort of any other body part due to the high-level control over the indoor environment. Nevertheless, because of various factors in real environment, there were significant differences of local thermal sensation among current studies. Therefore, more studies are still in need to establish a more universal model.