Thermal comfort of people in a super high-rise building with central air-conditioning system in the hot-humid area of China

Built areas with centralized air conditioning systems have increased intensively in recent years in the hot-humid area of China's mainland. A longitudinal field survey was conducted in a super high-rise building with central air-conditioning system in Guangzhou for a whole year. Forty-four respondents participated in the survey: they were visited three times a week, and thermal comfort data on a large scale with sample size of 3,345 were obtained, containing indoor environmental parameters, personal factors, and subjective responses. The data analysis showed that the indoor environments varied in small operative temperature ranges of 22 degrees C-27 degrees C in summer and 19 degrees C-25 degrees C in non-summer months, with moderate relative humidity and an air speed of 0.1 m/s. The respondents' clothing insulation changed in a narrow range of 0.55 clo to 0.60 clo in summer and in a wide range of 0.80 clo to 0.90 clo in non-summer months. The thermal neutral and acceptable operative temperatures were 27.9 degrees C and 22.0 degrees C-29.5 degrees C in summer, and the thermal neutral temperature was 24.5 degrees C in non-summer months. A strong preference for a cooler environment was identified in summer. The PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) model was confirmed to be not applicable in, the adaptive thermal comfort theory is also applicable to people in centrally air-conditioned buildings. This study provides a better understanding of thermal comfort in centrally air-conditioned indoor environment, and it is beneficial to practices regarding the evaluation, design, and control of indoor environments for centrally air-conditioned buildings in the hot-humid area of China's mainland. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.