Influence of user behavior on unsatisfactory indoor thermal environment

•The methodology of numerical simulation of 3D heat-flux visualization is proposed.•A full-scale model of prototype office for each influential factor was set up.•The simulation results were compared with the indoor occupant comfort levels.•The contrast of average temperature increase due to user behavior was presented. In areas of China that have hot summers and cold winters, the overall performance of HVAC systems in the poorly-insulated existing office buildings is generally not satisfactory, especially in extreme weather conditions. The reasons for the unsatisfactory indoor thermal environment were deduced, and to validate the findings, a methodology of numerical simulation for 3D heat-flux visualization was proposed. A full-scale model of a prototype office room was created, with representative working conditions for the characteristics of particular building. The results of the heat-flux visualization and temperature distribution showed that the overall effect was resulted from merged reasons, and that significance ranking of each reason varied when the outside environmental conditions changed. The simulation results were compared with the indoor occupant comfort levels of the volunteers who worked in the target room. Models of possible influential factors such as the outdoor temperature, opening or closing windows, and the effect of window shading devices (WSD) were set up. The influence of user behavior on indoor temperature in opening window, or not using WSD was proven to be significant in causing unfavorable indoor conditions. According to the visualized evaluation and analysis of the various factors, corresponding methods for both improving indoor thermal conditions and saving energy are proposed.