ABSTRACT
This chapter provides background information on the human thermoregulation, thermal sensation, and comfort perception. It addresses the influencing factors and performance indicators which are of practical relevance for the assessment of an occupant’s thermal comfort. Thermal sensation and comfort can be expressed by the use of diverse assessment scales and are usually regarded in terms of steady-state, uniform conditions for the body as a whole and in relation to the indoor climate. The chapter discusses corresponding prediction methods in the simulation environment based on a description of the necessary conditions for thermal comfort in uniform and non-uniform environments. It explains various thermal comfort indices and summarizes international codes and standards for thermal quality performance prediction. The chapter provides application examples that address the simulation of local thermal comfort involving detailed numerical human model, draught risk analysis in conjunction with a coupled computational fluid dynamics approach, as well as typical results obtained by the use of a thermal multi-zone model.
