Sensibility Studies on a Transient Thermal Model of the Human Body

The use of computer simulation to actually predict the thermal response of human body in different environments has becoming more important in a way that comfort, or thermal comfort in particular, has been identified as a factor of productivity and performance. In this work, sensitivity studies on a transient thermal model of the human body, previously used to investigate thermal comfort in different fields, are presented. The computational model combines a thermoregulation model of the human body and a model describing the dynamic heat and moisture transfer through clothing. The environment parameters are very important factors related to indoor climatic conditions and consequent comfort sensation. Changes in ambient and radiant temperatures, as well as, in convective and radiant coefficients, are analyzed specially in terms of skin temperature of the human body. The results show that the convection mechanism is dominant over radiation and the mass associated with a specific part of the body, influences the temperature variations. The simulated results and conclusions allow further investigation on the validity of combining this thermal model with CFD models to simulate ventilation, in order to predict thermal comfort indexes for different environments.