Integrating thermal comfort field data analysis in a case-based building simulation environment

Despite the obvious importance of thermal comfort in the design of indoor environments, it has not been effectively integrated with design support tools. The reasons can be attributed in part to an absence of modular and flexible software architecture that facilitates dynamic data transfer between building performance simulation modules. Research has shown that the mathematical models of thermal comfort sometimes fail to accurately describe or predict thermal comfort in workplace settings even when the values of environmental and personal parameters are known. Thus, there is a critical need to provide a thermal comfort evaluation framework that, in addition to the algorithmic implementation of mathematical thermal comfort prediction models, would make use of the empirical knowledge base accumulated over the last 20 years from field experiments around the world. This paper first talks about an integrated simulation environment SEMPER that allows for multiple performance evaluation including thermal comfort analysis from a shared object model of building. Then, it discusses the results of a detailed thermal comfort analysis performed to find the reasons for the discrepancy between the predicted and observed values and the factors responsible for such discrepancy. Finally, the paper shows how the results of the empirical thermal comfort analysis can be used in designing better thermal environments.