Thermo-physiological modelling has become a frequently used and valuable tool for simulations of thermoregulatory responses in a variety of applications, such as building and vehicular comfort studies. To achieve reliable results, it is necessary to provide precise inputs, such as clothing thermal parameters. These values are usually presented in a standing body position and scarcely reported locally for individual body parts. Moreover, as an air gap distribution is both highly affected by a given body position and critical for clothing insulation, this needs to be taken into account. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine eight probable approaches to assess the clothing parameters using stateof-the-art measurements, analytical and empirical models, and estimation. Next, we studied the effects of the eight clothing inputs on predicted thermo-physiological response under the same environmental conditions conducted with the Fiala model. Secondly, the study focuses on differences between seated and standing positions, both using two clothing sets representing typical European, indoor, summer and winter ensembles. The results show clear differences in clothing thermal properties between sitting and standing positions on both lower limbs and torso. The outputs of the eight
A lot of daily activities are conducted in a sedentary posture. This includes a thermal interaction between the human and the seat that has implications on thermal perception and comfort. These interactions are investigated by simulating heat and mass transfer, thus, reducing a need for costly and time demanding subject studies. However, it is not clear, from the available literature, what portion of the body surface area is actually affected by the seat with respect to human anthropometry. The aim of this study was to develop a predicting function of the seat contact area based on anthropometric parameters. The results showed strong linear correlation between the contact area obtained by printing a body silhouette on paper placed at the seat and body weight, height, body surface area, and body mass index. The body surface area and the body weight were identified as the best predictors for the contact area.
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