Study on adaptive model and behavioural adaptation for thermal comfort of Japanese office buildings

Abstract

This study focuses on the behavioural aspects of the occupants in Japanese office buildings. The behavioural adaptations such as window opening, heating/cooling use, clothing adjustments are important contributor factors for the adaptive thermal comfort. Therefore, understanding the behavioural aspects of the office workers can lead to have the guidelines to explain the mechanism of the adaptive model. The main aim of this study is to identify the differences in behavioural adaptation of the occupants in Japanese office buildings. Environmental parameters such as air temperature, relative humidity, and so on were measured in five mixed-mode office buildings located in Aichi prefecture were analysed for 15 months’ survey with 35 occupants. Thermal comfort survey together with the occupants’ behavioural survey were conducted in these office buildings. An adaptive relationship can be derived to estimate the indoor comfort temperature estimated by Griffiths method from the prevailing outdoor temperature. The results suggest that the proportion of heating and cooling use is related to the outdoor air temperature. The proportion of clothing adjustment is different for the different modes and are correlated to the outdoor air temperature. The acknowledge of the adaptive thermal comfort and the occupant behaviour of the selected buildings will be fruitful in designing the building with maximum thermal comfort in the future.