Thermal comfort evaluation at the multipurpose hall of an academic campus

Abstract

Most of the building design has a combination of natural ventilation and mechanical ventilation is used for indoor cooling purposes in many large enclosed spaces. However, this cooling method is insufficient to provide the occupants with a comfortable temperature level due to low wind velocity and the inability of a mechanical ventilator to remove warm air. The aim of this study is to evaluate the thermal comfort in a multipurpose hall. To assess the thermal perception of occupants in the multipurpose space, 179 occupants were randomly selected to participate in the survey. In addition, 4 indoor environmental variables were calculated using the Thermal Comfort Kit, including air temperature, air velocity, globe temperature and relative humidity. Data from questionnaire surveys and fieldwork measurements were obtained at the same time for 6 days between September and November 2019. All data collected were interpreted using the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) indices, which reflect the state of thermal comfort within the multipurpose hall. For this analysis, the PMV and PPD values for fieldwork measurements are 2.1 and 82.6%, while the thermal sensation voting values are 1.6 and 55%. Both PMV and PPD values for thermal environment measurement in the multipurpose hall and questionnaire survey exceed the respective upper limits as recommended in ASHRAE Standard 55 (2017) and the acceptability criterion in ISO 7730 (2005), indicating that the thermal comfort within the hall is warm.