Relationship between Thermal Comfort Scales and Physical-Environmental Components; a Case Study of Shiraz University Administration Building

Studies of thermal comfort can be discussed from different perspectives with a variety of objectives. Thermal adaptation is a gradual process of adapting to conditions and responding to thermal stimuli, which are classified into three categories including physical, physiological and psychological adaptations. Therefore, thermal comfort is not simply influenced by climate components; certain other variables affect it too. In this regard, several studies have been carried out to determine the effects of different components. The purpose of this study is to identify the simultaneous effect of physical and environmental components in the administration building of Shiraz University. The environmental components included air temperature, globe temperature, Wet Bulb Globe temperature and relative humidity recorded indoors and outdoors. The physical components included the surrounding view, location of users, windows and doors status, spatial layout level of noise pollution and light conditions. The field study consisted of three parts: distribution of questionnaires, observation and recording of weather data using a data logger. The questionnaires helped to collect thermal responses of the participants based on different scales such as thermal sensation, thermal comfort, thermal pleasure, thermal preferences, thermal acceptance and overall comfort. During observation, the researchers recorded the status of each environmental component. It was a Mixed-Mode case study of the main administration building of Shiraz University located on the northern side of the city of Shiraz, Iran, at 52.52°N latitude and 29.63°E longitude and the altitude of 1590 meters above sea level. The building has a northwest-southeast orientation in two blocks of seven and ten stories. The field part of the study was conducted in January, 2019 for four consecutive days from 8 am to 12 pm.  The results on 110 employees in winter show that, among the physical components, relative humidity has the most influence on the individuals' thermal perception. The simultaneous impact of the physical-environmental components also indicates that, in addition to the indoor air temperature and relative humidity, the condition of the openings has a significant effect on the individuals' thermal sensation. In this study, the temperature preferences scale was predicted by environmental components, and thermal sensation could be predicted by the physical-environmental components.