Evaluation Of Thermal Comfort Research Articles

Comparative study on thermal comfort of sports buildings in hot and humid climates from the perspective of exercisers and non-exercisers

In this study, a thermal comfort evaluation of sports buildings in hot and humid climates from the perspective of exercisers and non-exercisers was conducted. The objective was to improve their indoor environment in terms of public use. Thermal environmental indicators, individual data and 294 valid responses form exercisers and non-exercisers to a subjective survey questionnaire were examined. The results indicated that exercisers and non-exercises performed differently in terms of physiological characteristics and subjective perception. The average values of subjective sensation in the thermal environment were different between exercisers and non-exercisers, which corresponded to their subjective preference. However, the average values of their subjective acceptability were generally within the “slightly acceptable”. In terms of the relationship between thermal environment and subjective perception, the thermal sensation of exercisers was more hot-oriented than that of non-exercisers at the same operative temperature, while their thermal acceptability was higher than that of non-exercisers since exercisers focused on sports rather than the thermal environment, making them less sensitive and more tolerant than non-exercisers. In addition, affected by the skin wetness from sweating and air velocity generated by exercise, the humidity sensation and draft sensation of exercisers were stronger than those of non-exercisers. Finally, the neutral temperature (28.3 °C and 28.7 °C), satisfactory temperature range (26.3oC–31.2 °C and 26.3oC–32.2 °C), and acceptable temperature range (27.1oC–35.9 °C and 26.3oC–34.1 °C) for exercisers and non-exercisers were derived. This study provides knowledge regarding the thermal comfort of exercisers and non-exercisers in sports buildings as well as guidance to improve the control and regulation of indoor environments.

Enhancing Sustainability in Building Design: Hybrid Approaches for Evaluating the Impact of Building Orientation on Thermal Comfort in Semi-Arid Climates

The evaluation of human thermal comfort inside buildings plays a pivotal role in reducing energy consumption and enhancing sustainability in the built environment. The estimation of thermal comfort is based on objective (physical factors) and subjective (psychological factors) aspects. This study aimed to find a hybrid way to evaluate more accurate thermal comfort in the buildings as per their orientations. This study assessed the effect of building orientation on thermal comfort conditions in row houses in semi-arid climates, based on a synthesis of the predictive mean vote (PMV) model and the thermal sensation vote (TSV). For this purpose, row houses were selected in the region of this study. This study concluded that the PMV model calculates a lower thermal comfort level than the TSV method, and that the thermal comfort demand within the houses was higher than ASHRAE Standard 55. The occupants inside the houses had a lower thermal tolerance. This implied that the residents of these buildings can consume more energy during the summer, typically the harshest season. This study presented new mathematical models for occupants’ thermal comfort evaluation in the study region, depending on the building’s orientation. In both models, for assessing thermal performance during both the summer and winter seasons, east-facing buildings consistently ranked as the second-best orientation. This suggested that, overall, east-facing buildings can be considered the best choice throughout the entire year in terms of thermal comfort. This study suggested a novel indicator to evaluate the optimum building orientation in the study area in terms of thermal performance.

Spatially resolved indoor overheating evaluation using microscale meteorological simulation as input for building simulation – opportunities and limitations

To assess the spatial heat resilience of buildings in urban development we test the suitability of a toolchain approach from microscale meteorological simulations, resolving the spatial influences on local urban climate, to building performance simulations, evaluating the indoor overheating risk in buildings. This approach makes it possible to investigate how much microscale effects (e.g. buildings, trees e.g. roads) in open space influence the overheating intensity in a building depending on its location within a district. In this context, the question arises how realistic the microscale meteorological simulation is to be used as input for indoor overheating evaluation. In this context, we applied a 3D urban climate model (ENVI-met) and a 1D boundary layer model (HIRVAC) for two urban districts in Germany as meteorological input for an indoor thermal comfort evaluation of two representative buildings. The results demonstrate that ENVI-met simulations without using measured temperature data create unrealistically low diurnal variations in outdoor air temperature despite an overestimated solar irradiance. The implementation to building simulation leads to a significant underestimation of the heat resilience for both buildings and to wrong conclusions about the efficacy of passive heat adaptation measures. In contrast, the HIRVACsimulations show a more realistic representation of the meteorological variables (when measured data is used for calibration) but are not able to resolve urban 3D structures. Our findings point out that an adjusted boundary layer representation in microscale meteorological simulations is crucial to provide meteorological input suitable for realistic spatially resolved indoor overheating analysis.

Integrated daylight and thermal comfort evaluation for tropical passive gymnasiums based on the perspective of exercisers

This study measured and surveyed four passive community gymnasiums with open facades in a tropical climate to explore the relationship between occupant daylight, thermal comfort, and environmental indicators during exercise. A questionnaire survey was conducted on exercisers to evaluate their satisfaction. Compared with the daylight environment, the subjects were more satisfied the intervention mechanism of the daylight and thermal environment indicators for the comfort level of participants in their respective dimensions with the indoor thermal environment of the four test cases. Hereafter, linear regression was used to explore the influencing mechanisms of daylight and thermal comfort on environmental indicators, the result showed that illuminance uniformity and natural ventilation were the main factors affecting occupant comfort. In order to improve the accuracy of the prediction model, the radial basis function (RBF) neural network was introduced to analyze the influence weight of different indicators on integrated sunlight and thermal comfort (IDTC), and a prediction model was established. Compared to the linear model, RBF has improved the predictive fit for DC, TC, and IDTC by 0.42, 0.33, and 0.39, respectively. This study integrates the assessment of daylight and thermal comfort, emphasizing the effect of passive climate conditioning indoors in sports facilities. The findings of the study can provide guidance for the improvement of the environmental quality of sports facilities and the satisfaction of exercisers in hot and humid climate.

Innovative Metabolic Rate Sensing Approach for Probing Human Thermal Comfort.

The human metabolic rate has attracted increasing interest as it is the most critical parameter in thermal comfort evaluation, a challenging field, while it is always determined imprecisely. The main issue hampering metabolic rate portable measurement is a lack of reliable methods. Current measuring solutions are unsatisfactory because nonportable bulky size systems and disturbance masks are required. This paper proposes a novel metabolic rate measurement model, which we believe is the first of its kind, to accurately identify and predict human metabolism values via wearable technology. Based on a newly developed theory, the designed wearable metabolic rate sensor was fabricated to measure key parameters: heart rate, heat loss, and skin resistance. Together with the body muscle rate, the new final linear metabolic rate model showed easy prediction capability. Eight volunteers were invited for the experiment under three conditions under four activity intensity states. First, the results significantly verify that a linear relationship exists between the metabolic rate tested by the Quark CPET instrument and our proposed model, with a high coefficient of determination (R2 ≈ 0.90). The correlation model is worth mentioning because it coincides with our hypothesis, with at least 95% overall accuracy and less than 2% uncertainty under each condition. Second, the most remarkable finding is that our model is exceedingly suitable (R2 ≈ 0.90) for the same person, regardless of the experimental temperature. Finally, validation is conducted in a wider metabolic range, further strengthening confidence in our metabolic rate estimation approach. In summary, based on an innovative methodology, our novel metabolic rate sensor is wearable, comfortable, real-time achievable, and miniaturized compared with the existing equipment. This paper sheds new light on human metabolic rate measurement and prediction. Furthermore, our approach and designed sensor can be applied to evaluate indoor thermal comfort precisely, thus leading to reduced energy consumption.

Indoor Environmental Quality in Micro & Nanoelectronics Laboratories at IMEN, Research Complex, UKM

The National University of Malaysia's Micro and Nanoelectronics laboratories were examined to ascertain their comfort levels. Eight laboratories were chosen as the study locations. This study aims to assess the interior air quality at six locations by measuring CO2, formaldehyde CHOH, total volatile organic compound TVOC, PM2.5, indoor temperature, and relative humidity. The thermal comfort evaluation for labs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 is between 20.45 and 22.47 °C, which is below the range of DOSH and Ashrae. While the average readings in laboratories 6 and 8 are within the limits allowed at 23,21 °C and 23,75 °C, respectively. Five laboratories were exceeding the upper limit of RH (30–60%) but only three laboratories were still within the maximum level mentioned by the Ashrae standard. RH exceeded the ICOP limit (60%) at 70.3%, 63.7%, 75.4%, 60.6%, 62.8% and 65.5%, at Lab 1, 2,3,6,7 and 8, respectively, whereas temperature exceeded it (22.5- 26 °C) at 20.45, 22.2, 21.9, 22.43, 21.58 and 22.47 at Lab 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8, respectively. While the average air velocities for all laboratories are 0.17, 0.13, 0.10, 0.16, 0.12, 0.14, 0.15 and 0.09 ms-1, respectively. All the data that has been measured is found to be below the maximum level as recommended by the ASHRAE Standard 55 (2004) of 0.25 ms-1. The indoor air contaminants (CO, CHOH, TVOC, PM2.5, and PM10) met the standard level of ICOP and DOSH except for CHOH approaches ICOP (0.1ppm) at 0.1 and 0.09, at Point 9 and Point 10 for laboratory 3 compared to other laboratories where the concentration obtained is lower. The highest laboratories average concentration of PM2.5 was 13 µg/m3 determined in Lab 3, which was the most actively utilized one because the research activity in this laboratory was working more intensively than the others. As in the study of PM2.5, the highest average PM10 concentration was evaluated in Lab 3 as 36 µg/m3. Based on observations and studies, we find that fresh outdoor air with a complete and good purifier/filter should be used to reduce the concentration of indoor pollutants.

Numerical Study of Thermal Comfort Evaluation in Naturally Ventilated Classrooms

The classroom is one of the important facilities in teaching and learning activities. Just like any other room, ensuring thermal comfort becomes a vital aspect for its occupants. This study aims to evaluate environmental conditions and the thermal comfort experienced by classroom occupants through numerical methods. The evaluation involves the integration of the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD) equations into Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations using a user-defined function. Furthermore, extensive field measurements and questionnaire surveys are also employed to support the simulation process. The results indicate that the air temperature tends to be high, reaching 30.91°C. Meanwhile, the air velocity within the room, particularly in the occupied areas, is significantly low, with an average value of 0.04 m/s. According to the ASHRAE Standard 55, the classroom is perceived as uncomfortable, as evidenced by a PMV value of 1.38 and a PPD of 44.94%. Therefore, efforts are required to enhance the thermal comfort in the space.

Thermal environment evaluation and thermal comfort zone deviation ——a case study of Chinese seaweed house in summer

Renewing the vitality of traditional ecological dwellings in the context of global carbon peaking and carbon neutrality targets has become one of the important topics in today's building sustainability research, and the evaluation of thermal comfort in traditional dwellings is the key to it. In this paper, one of the most representative ecological dwellings in the world, the “Seaweed House”, was selected as the research object. Firstly, the physical environment of a seaweed house in Dazhuang Xujia Village was measured from July 29 to August 3, 2022. Secondly, a thermal comfort questionnaire was conducted to grasp the current information of the thermal comfort in seaweed house. The results show that:1. The humidity of seaweed houses in summer is too high. 2. Residents have a thermally neutral temperature of 26.9 °C, an acceptable temperature region of (24.8–29.1 °C), and a thermally desired temperature of 25.8 °C. 3. The adaptive predicted mean vote (APMV) model suitable for thermal comfort evaluation of seaweed houses was developed. The results of the study provide a precise theoretical guide for the study of thermal comfort evaluation models in this region, and a useful reference for the study of the renewal and renovation of the seaweed houses.

Joint Measurement of Thermal Discomfort by Occupant Pose, Motion and Appearance in Indoor Surveillance Videos for Building Energy Saving

To accurately describe the thermal comfort of indoor occupant used to regulate heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is a key goal to reduce energy consumption in intelligent buildings. In this paper, we propose a noncontact measurement of occupant thermal discomfort behavior as an index of thermal comfort. The method takes the existing monitoring image data in the building as the input to infer the occupant thermal discomfort directly, which saves the cost because there is no need to install new sensors in the building and the occupant does not need to wear additional equipment. The framework combined three channels of body posture, motion and performance information to infer occupant thermal discomfort behavior, it consists of a human detection and crop module, a posture analysis module, an optical flow extraction module and a 3D convolutional neural network module. The three channels describe the actions from different perspectives, and the proposed method makes full use of the complementarity of the three modalities to identify the occupant’s thermal discomfort behaviors. Sixteen postures related to thermal discomfort were identified through a questionnaire, and 14,800 video clips containing these postures were collected for experimental evaluation. The results demonstrate the superior performances of our approach to the state-of-the-art techniques. The framework achieves noninvasive, cost-effective thermal comfort evaluation, and has potential value in improving energy efficiency of HVAC systems.

Investigating the Relationship of Outdoor Heat Stress upon Indoor Thermal Comfort and Qualitative Sleep Evaluation: The Case of Ankara

The necessity of exploring the relationship between sleep quality and the thermal environment has amplified regarding increasing heat stress risk on the human body due to climate change, particularly in vulnerable uninsulated buildings in Ankara. Within this scope, this study investigated occupants’ sleep quality and human thermal comfort in insulated and uninsulated buildings under three local extreme heat event thresholds: (1) typical summer days (TSD25), (2) very hot days (VHD33), and lastly, (3) heat wave events (HWE31). Within a two-tiered approach to thermal comfort evaluations, the human thermal comfort of occupants was identified through the calculation of physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) from the climatic data of local meteorological stations. The psychological thermal comfort and sleep quality of participants were evaluated by questionnaires during each heat event. The results of this study demonstrated that the physiological thermal load of the participants was highest during VHD33s, given that both outdoor and indoor PET values presented their highest values within VHD33 events. Furthermore, the outdoor PET values reached extreme heat stress based on physiological stress grades with 43.5 °C, which indicated the exacerbated vulnerability of Ankara during extreme heat events. The PET values were consistently higher in uninsulated buildings than in insulated buildings. Also, most of the mean psychological thermal comfort votes and sleep quality votes were better in uninsulated buildings than in insulated ones during TSD25s and HWE31s, while it was the opposite within extreme conditions of VHD33s. The outputs of this study contribute to interdisciplinary efforts to attenuate the existing and impending risks of climate change on human life by defining the influence of increasing outdoor heat stress on indoor spaces, thermal comfort, and the sleep quality of occupants.

A coupled analysis on human thermal comfort and the indoor non-uniform thermal environment through human exergy and CFD model

The importance of human thermal comfort evaluation lies of the development of healthy buildings as well as low-carbon buildings. In recent years, the applications of the second law of thermodynamics to thermal comfort offered a new perspective and this study, for the first time, an integrated human exergy model and the indoor CFD model for a coupled analysis is put forward, which supplements a critical link between human and building environment. In this paper, a predefined office model is investigated to improve the efficiency and thermal comfort of occupants. Based on the human exergy model, the parameters of metabolism, respiration, evaporation, convection, radiation, skin, and core heat storage terms are optimized. Additionally, the effects of gender, age, and clothing thermal resistance on the exergy model values are also separately explored. Finally, the optimized human exergy model is combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to calculate, under different air supply conditions, the distribution of exergy consumption values in the predefined room model. The results show that the factors of gender, age, and thermal resistance of clothing have some influences on human exergy consumption, while the above factors do not have a significant enough influence on the model in the thermal comfort interval. Moreover, the combination of the human exergy model and CFD can offer some suitable air supply conditions for the development of indoor thermal comfort and work efficiency. This study presented a new tool that bridges human thermal sensation and indoor thermal environment.

Thermal comfort and energy efficiency evaluation of a novel conductive-radiative Personal Comfort System

Personal Comfort Systems (PCSs) create a localized comfort situation satisfying individual needs. These devices have low power consumption, as they focus on local environment and thus reduce the energy consumption of main HVAC systems by extending ambient control setpoint ranges. This study focuses on assessing a new type of PCS: a warming desk. It uses the two most efficient and effective means of heat transfer for warming a person: conduction (hands) and radiation (lower and upper body parts facing the table). Two different desks were tested, both simultaneously heating upward and downward with different surface temperatures, one with a higher temperature downward and one with a higher temperature upward. The desks were tested by 30 subjects, inside a climatic chamber, kept at 17 °C air temperature. Both desks are capable of generating good overall (whole-body) comfort and thermal sensation, even leaning towards a slightly warm one for someone. Moreover, results showed that PCS based on direct contact with the skin surface temperature should be kept below 36°, while the surface warming by radiation can reach higher temperatures: personal control of power is critical, as not everyone preferred the same operative temperature. The PCS can “correct” the ambient temperature toward the neutral thermal sensation by about 7K, creating improved thermal comfort compared to centralized HVAC. In its current design, the heating surface required 170W, significantly lower than 500/1500W of a common portable electric heater. It is expected that in an optimized design, the power consumption could be reduced further to 30/40W.

Influence of landscape interventions on thermal comfort under time-varying building shadow; new Gwanghwamun square case, Seoul, South Korea

This study investigated the cooling effects of landscape interventions and their relative magnitude under hybrid urban context including time-varying building shadow cast. The study focused on the practical design alternatives, rather than experimental scenarios. We conducted outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) simulation using ENVI-met, and spatial-temporal comparison analysis for three green space expansion interventions for new Gwanghwamun square, Seoul, South Korea. In addition, we statistically analyzed the relationship between TCR (tree coverage ratio), GCR (green coverage ratio), WCR (water coverage ratio) and PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature). The correlation and regression coefficients of the relationships under different building density, building locations and shadow cast conditions were compared. As a result of three interventions comparison, the comfort zone increased almost two times, while the discomfort zone decreased to ≈70% of the current condition in the long-term alternative. As TCR increases 22%, PET decreases up to 2.6 °C in average. Tree coverage ratio showed significant importance among the landscape elements. The influence of trees was slightly different for different contexts; larger cooling effect was found in no building shadow cast and low-density buildings. However, the difference was not noticeable; the influence of trees is still effective under building shadow cast and high-density buildings. Moreover, for high tree density area (TCR>50%), temporal gap of thermal comfort between measured time that mainly caused by building shadow change was greatly reduced compared to low tree density area (TCR<5%), which suggest the important role of tree in providing consistent thermal comfort. This study provides scientific evidence for trees’ cooling effect and its relative magnitude under diverse built contexts of N–S oriented urban canyon. This study also contributes to developing an inclusive thermal comfort evaluation method based on both temporal and spatial scales for the effective comparison of real-world design alternatives.

Analytical evaluation of thermal comfort in the pedestrian environment using pedestrian shade space distribution

Shade distribution in the pedestrian environment directly affects pedestrian thermal comfort, so it is necessary to evaluate the influence of shade on thermal comfort and guide shade planning. This study proposed a concept of pedestrian shade space from a 3D perspective for accurately analyzing the thermal impact of shade on pedestrians. Pedestrian shade space is a space that can completely cover a pedestrian in the shade when the pedestrian is on a sidewalk. Pedestrian space is considered to be composed of two types of space: pedestrian sunlit space and pedestrian shade space. A quantification method of pedestrian shade space distribution on sidewalks was also discussed in this paper. By estimating a thermal index (Physiological equivalent temperature, PET) in the pedestrian space, pedestrian thermal comfort can be analyzed based on pedestrian shade space distribution. The evaluation process and application of the proposed method were demonstrated through case studies in actual urban districts. The analysis results show that the proposed method can be used to support the planners in the thermal evaluation of the pedestrian environment and design proposal optimization.

Field investigation of thermal comfort with face masks in outdoor spaces in South China: A case study

After the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), individuals have paid significant attention to protecting themselves indoors and outdoors by wearing masks. However, wearing masks can affect the exchange of heat and moisture between the body and the environment, which in turn affects the thermal comfort of the body and causes discomfort, leading people to wear them in an unscientific and standardized manner, affecting people's healthy lives. Thus, to analyze its effects on thermal comfort, outdoor parameter measurements and field surveys were conducted at Guangzhou University to investigate the thermal comfort of pedestrians wearing masks outdoors. In this study, the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) was chosen for thermal comfort evaluation. Based on the field survey, the neutral PET and preferred PET of the subjects with and without masks were determined. The results indicated that the neutral temperature of people wearing masks are slightly lower than that of people without masks, and people with masks need a lower ambient temperature to feel comfortable. Out of the total, wearing masks raised the heat sensation in the face more and caused discomfort to the face. In addition, the suitability of PET for the people with masks was initially evaluated.

A simplified outdoor shading assessment method (OSAM) to identify outdoor shading requirements over the year within an urban context

This study proposes a novel way of using and presenting calculations of outdoor thermal comfort, to analyze the requirements of outdoor shading; by showing whether shading would be beneficial, harmful or ineffective – in a specified urban context – for every hour of the year. The simplified Outdoor Shading Assessment Method (OSAM) aims to assist in the early stages of outdoor shading analysis, acting as a decision-support tool regarding the type, application period, design and efficiency aspects of the shade required. The study uses the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) for thermal comfort evaluation, calculated through the Ladybug-tools (LBT 1.6). The method has been tested for the climate of Cairo against field measurements, revealing a strong correlation (R2 = 0.9267) for the UTCI. It also revealed potential overestimation in the Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) simulation by newer versions of the LBT. Two climate examples, hot and temperate, are explored through two orientations and urban geometries, demonstrating varying outdoor shading requirements. For the E-W and N-S canyons (H/W = 1.3), Cairo's hot climate shows high shade benefit for at least 2 h per day for 171 and 250 days respectively, compared to 26 and 45 days for London's temperate climate.

Evaluation of Thermal Comfort with and without Fill Using a Thermal Environment Analysis Method for Building Envelopes with Thermally Complex Geometry: A Case Study in Hokkaido, Japan

Recently, the number of buildings with curved surfaces has been increasing. Although these buildings are not complex from a design perspective, they are thermally complex from an environmental engineering perspective. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a tool used in environmental engineering analysis that requires advanced analysis techniques. Its analysis load is high, making its use impractical in design. Therefore, a coupled analysis method was developed using the two-dimensional heat flow calculation tool Hygrabe, energy simulation, and CFD. Using this method, the environmental analysis of a building with fill in Hokkaido, Japan, was performed and the accuracy of the analysis was verified. The results of the coupled analysis model were used to evaluate thermal insulation performance. The high thermostability of the fill contributes to the high degree of freedom of the exterior skin and is highly useful for design. The results show that the thermal performance of the building envelope with and without fill did not change the insulation performance. The results for January 15 were below −3.0 °C for all insulation performance levels but higher than the outside air temperature during the night.

Energy saving, indoor thermal comfort and indoor air quality evaluation of an office environment using corner impinging jet ventilation

The performance of a corner based impinging jet ventilation system (CIJV) in an office environment was evaluated numerically. The evaluation was done both in terms of the local thermal comfort and the local indoor air quality. Three different inlet configurations were tested for a range of outdoor temperatures that included both winter and summer conditions. In terms of indoor air quality, the results showed that CIJV performed better than a traditional mixing system. The study also revealed that CIJV creates a stronger temperature stratification in summertime compared to wintertime. When evaluating the energy saving potential the results showed a possible reduction of 7% for the ventilation flowrate when the outdoor temperatures were between −15 °C and −5 °C, 8% when the outdoor temperatures were between 0 °C and 10 °C and 9% when the outdoor temperatures were between 15 °C and 25 °C.

Combined Effects of the Thermal-Acoustic Environment on Subjective Evaluations in Urban Park Based on Sensory-Walking

Studying the impact of various factors on environmental perception is crucial because humans live in an environment where these factors interact and blend. The thermal-acoustic environment is the major factor that affects the overall perception of urban parks. This study focuses on urban parks in the subtropical region, with Xihu Park in Fuzhou, China, as the research area. Through measurements and questionnaires, this study explores the effects of the thermal-acoustic environment in urban parks on subjective evaluation (thermal assessment, acoustic assessment, and overall environmental assessment). The results reveal that: (1) a higher temperature significantly increases the sensation of heat and lowers thermal comfort, heat acceptance, and overall thermal environment evaluation scores. The type of sound source has a significant positive impact on thermal assessment, and the higher the ranking of the sound source type, the greater its positive impact on thermal assessment. (2) Regarding acoustic evaluation, higher sound pressure level is associated with more negative subjective ratings of loudness, harshness, intensity, and excitement. In contrast, positive sound sources can enhance comfort, preference, disorder, coordination, and overall soundscape evaluation. Additionally, temperature increases tend to result in more negative harshness, intensity, and coordination ratings. The interaction between temperature and sound pressure level also significantly affects subjective loudness, harshness, and intensity. (3) Overall environmental evaluation is also affected by temperature, with increasing temperatures leading to decreased comfort and satisfaction while increasing irritation. High sound pressure environments result in worse overall irritation ratings, while positive sound sources can significantly enhance overall comfort, irritation, and satisfaction ratings. Furthermore, the interaction between temperature and sound pressure level significantly impacts overall irritation and satisfaction ratings. These findings are significant for managing and improving the park’s thermal environment and soundscape, providing a practical framework for landscape architects.

Measurement Methods of the Thermal Resistance of Materials Used in Clothing.

This paper describes methods for evaluating the thermal properties of textile materials, clothing composites, and clothing using an integrated measurement system that includes a hot plate, a multi-purpose differential conductometer, a thermal manikin, a temperature gradient measurement device, and a device for measuring the physiological parameters of the human body during the exact evaluation of garment thermal comfort. In practice, measurements were taken on four types of materials widely used in the production of conventional and protective clothing. The measurements were carried out using a hot plate and a multi-purpose differential conductometer, determining the thermal resistance of the material both in its uncompressed form and when a force was applied that was ten times greater than that needed to determine its thickness. Using a hot plate and a multi-purpose differential conductometer, thermal resistances of textile materials were assessed at different levels of material compression. On hot plates, both conduction and convection had an impact on thermal resistance, but in the multi-purpose differential conductometer, only conduction did. Moreover, a reduction in thermal resistance was observed as a result of compressing textile materials.