Influence of Physiological Variability on Thermal Comfort: A Numerical Evaluation

Thermal comfort indexes based on physiological models are generally based on the morphology of an average , male individual. The present work explores the effects of physiological variability on the calculation of thermal comfort using the Standard Effective Temperature (SET *). A semi-probabilistic approach is used for the study, with French population demo-graphics as input. Parameters in the physiological model behind the SET * index that vary with human physiology were generated according to probabilistic laws and data from the literature. The results demonstrate that the temperature acceptability range determined by the model is exceeded for this population. However, standard deviations obtained proved to be relatively low compared to field data from literature. A sensitivity analysis showed that the most influential parameters of the model are sex, age, height and BMI.

DOI: 10.26868/25222708.2019.210477