CFD based study of thermal sensation of occupants using thermophysiological model. Part II: Effect of metabolic rate and clothing insulation on human-environmental interaction

Purpose - The purpose of the paper is to simulate the effect of clothing insulation and activity on the interaction between the human body and the environment. Design/methodology/approach - A thermo-physiological model, integrated into a Fluent CFD software package is applied. The temperature of the skin surface, clothing surface and heat flux (dry and total heat flux) through layers of clothing with different insulation level are numerically investigated in function of the clothing insulation and the different activities performed indoors. Findings - The increase of the clothing insulation leads to increase of both skin and clothing temperature. Higher temperature difference Delta T between the room temperature and skin temperature provokes more dynamic change of the skin temperature and decreases the thermal comfort of the person. The increase of the metabolic rate, however, leads to more uniform skin temperature, regardless the temperature difference Delta T . With the increase of the clothing insulation for a constant metabolic rate the total heat flux remains constant, but the dry heat flux decreases, while the evaporative heat flux increases. Originality/value - The joint influence of clothing insulation and indoor activities on the thermal interaction between the body and the environment is assesses using a thermo-physiological model, integrated in a CFD software package.