Field studies on human thermal comfort - An overview

This paper presents an exhaustive overview of the field studies carried out in the past few decades on human thermal comfort. To get a better grasp of patterns in observed data and to facilitate comparison across investigations, the thermal comfort field studies are grouped using the Koppen-Geiger climatic classification of their locations. Effects of relevant environmental, physiological, and other aspects that can have an effect on thermal comfort are reviewed and discussed. Field studies across the board show that people have considerable capacity to adapt to their surroundings provided they have sufficient adaptive opportunities. This observation holds good for both air-conditioned as well as free running buildings. However, studies show that conditioned spaces have narrower comfort zones compared to free running buildings. Across climatic zones, most popular means of adaptation are related to the modification of air movement and clothing. The ease, economy, and effectiveness (the 3 'E's) of adaptive opportunities play a major role in occupants' adaptation to the surroundings. Studies show that individuals are likely to perceive the same thermal environment differently and environments lacking adaptive avenues normally receive poor comfort ratings. Studies also indicate that for adaptive comfort equations, the running mean temperature may be a better outdoor index compared to the monthly mean temperature. (c) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.