The purpose of this paper is to reviews the concept of occupant behavior and its relation with IEQ and building energy consumption. The behavior is referred to any direct or indirect action, which is selected by occupant to manage the unpleasant indoor environmental conditions. Thermal comfort, indoor air quality, aural comfort and visual comfort, are the key factors of IEQ evaluation. Human behavior interacts with energy consumption in buildings significantly. Design/methodology/approach-Each IEQ parameters reviewed separately and the overall IEQ acceptance considered. In addition, this paper reviews the methods that used to measure and simulate the IEQ factors, energy consumption, and human behavior. At last, the lack of knowledge in this field based on review demonstrated. Findings-The most study considered one or two IEQ factors to evaluate IEQ acceptance in buildings. Further, weakness of simulating all IEQ factors at the same time is the deficiency of IEQ simulation based on reviews. In the case of occupant behavior simulation, the uncertainly of human psychological parameter is a drawback to predict behavior. Originality/Value-Energy consumption, occupant health, and productivity are related to the IEQ. Human behavior effects on building energy consumption directly. Simulation software and methods can predict IEQ factors and human behavior. Therefore, reviewing the existing studies is critical to find new methods for measuring and simulating IEQ, energy consumption and human behavior in buildings.
The energy required for the heating and cooling of buildings is strongly dependant on the thermal properties of the construction material. Cement mortar is a common construction material that is widely used in buildings. The main aim of this study is to assess the thermal properties of cement mortar in terms of its thermal conductivity, heat capacity and thermal diffusivity in a wide range of grades (cement: sand ratio between 1:2 and 1:8). As there is insufficient information to predict the thermal conductivity and diffusivity of a cement mortar from its physical and mechanical properties, the relationships between thermal conductivity and diffusivity and density, compressive strength, water absorption and porosity are also discussed. Our results indicate that, for a cement mortar with a 28-day compressive strength in the range of 6–60 MPa, thermal conductivity, specific heat and thermal diffusivity are in the range of 1.5–2.7 W/(m.K), 0.87–1.04 kJ/kg.K and 0.89–1.26 (x10-6 m2/s), respectively. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) images showed that pore size varied from 18 μm to 946 μm for samples with different cement-to-sand ratios. The porosity of cement mortar has a significant effect on its thermal and physical properties. For this reason, thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity was greater in cement mortar samples with a higher density and compressive strength.
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