Application of a thermophysiological model for assessing non-uniform thermal environments (ID:225)

Thermophysiological models may provide an alternative solution to predict thermal comfort in non-uniform thermal environments. In this study a thermophysiological model based on the model of Fiala was used. The purpose of the study was to validate the model through a laboratory study with test subjects who were exposed to a non-uniform thermal environment. During the experiments both the physiological response and thermal sensation ofthe subjects were measured. The physiological response and thermal sensation predicted by the thermophysiological model were compared to the measurement results. The results showed that the model predicts the mean skin temperature well (root mean squared deviation 0.95K). However, the predicted core temperature was too low «36°C) for subjects with a high fat percentage (>20%). The bias between predicted and measured thermal sensation was large(root mean squared deviation 0.95). Possible improvements to the model are discussed.