Methods and analysis of human subject experiments in the field of thermal comfort.

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Claudia Kandzia
• Subject Area: Fluid Mechanics
• Term: Funded in 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 256906855

Because people in industrialized countries today spend most of their time indoors, guaranteeing an adequate thermal comfort is of particular importance. Fanger laid the cornerstones for evaluating thermal comfort with his first experiments in the 1970s. The criteria he introduced refer to/ assume stationary boundary conditions in buildings. His findings have been used ever since for designing air flow systems. Energy related consideration however have not yet been combined with this method. In regard to the current changes in the energy supply structures a new approach taking into consideration both thermal physiological and energy aspects should be pursued. Particularly transient conditions in the indoor climate resulting from the intermittent operation of the technical equipment must be considered in more detail. In this context an important focus point is the human sensation in regard to changes of the room air temperature. Only a small increase or decrease of the room air temperature is allowed when considering the thermal comfort level. However Fanger defined a scale, which is valid only for stationary boundary conditions. A transfer to dynamic boundary conditions is not guaranteed. Hence, a detailed study with human subjects and extensive parameter variations of the boundary conditions is necessary.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Denmark
• Host: Professor Arsen Melikov, Ph.D.