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Outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) studies have gained global attention in the last two decades, with noteworthy results of increasing heat stress. Heat Issues in urban areas disturb the thermal balance and create a dilapidated urban living environment. The thermal environment is quite influencing in promoting open public spaces. India, a tropical country, deals with intense heat issues periodically throughout the year. There has been an increasing trend of OTC studies in India in the last decade. It is necessary to chronicle the state of knowledge and the current circumstances in the country. The study aims to investigate, analyze, and summarize the ongoing scenario of OTC studies in the Indian context. This systematic literature review (SLR) is a comprehensive analysis of 38 studies obtained and reviewed through five stages. It investigates the available database to understand the thermal environment, thermal parameters, perception, preference, and overall thermal comfort in open spaces between different built forms. The outcome expansively summarises the various parameters, approaches, and scenarios to assess OTC. The findings of the study encourage the annual assessment of OTC conditions with consideration of several aspects of different climatic zones. Standardization in the process of OTC assessment and the development of OTC models in the Indian Scenario is found to be of utmost importance. Thermal neutrality values were found to vary between 19 °C - 32 °C over several locations. The in-depth discussion has addressed the precise gaps and future scope, specifically in the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A longitudinal study has revealed that 50% of New Zealand children sleep in rooms that fall below the expected standard for thermal comfort during the winter months. Causes include older insulation and glazing standards for residential homes, poor materials, inadequate ventilation, and residents being unable to afford heating. These combined factors result in poor indoor environmental quality (IEQ). This paper aims to analyse experimentally and computationally the thermal comfort in a bedroom occupied by two children (aged eight and three) from 19:00 to 7:00. The experiment was carried out during June 2021. The measured data were particulate matter (PM2.5), relative humidity (RH%), and air temperature (°C), captured with an air image sensor. In order to find appropriate thermal comfort parameters, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models with four heat pump temperature settings (19°C, 20°C, 21°C and 22°C) were investigated to assess the predicted mean vote (PMV), predicted percentage dissatisfied (PPD) and the local air quality index (LAQI) for the expired air. Measurements and CFD results show that setting the heat pump temperature to 22°C is aligned with the 1.7 Metabolic (MET) - EN ISO 7730, 2005 and ASHRAE 55 recommendation for thermal sensation and the indoor PM2.5 of 1.058 μg/m3, which meets ASHRAE 62.1, 2019 and the New Zealand Standard NZS4246:2016.

This study analyzes a single-family dwelling, from the energy performance point of view. The concept of the housing model took into consideration aspects related to a high degree of layout flexibility, high-energy performance, minimal impact on the environment and feasible financial investments. The analysis consists of an estimated energy performance using direct methods and numerical simulations for thermo-energetic behavior. The evaluation using direct methods places the model as an A class energy performance building. Furthermore, an assessment for the energy performance was conducted and revealed values related to specific energy consumption for heating, domestic hot water, lighting and CO2 emissions. Results from numerical simulations highlight that total glazing area of the building's envelope is considerable when estimating the overall heat loss balance. At the same time, the judicious orientation of the glazed areas contributes to the reduction of the heating energy demand from non-renewable resources by taking advantage of the solar gains. Conclusions of this study highlights aspects related to specific annual energy consumption, feasibility and efficiency of passive solar energy recovery systems integrated in the building's architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental parameters affecting the thermal comfort are; air temperature, relative humidity, mean radiant temperature and air velocities on human body segments. At this study, the effects of nonuniform and highly transient thermal comfort parameters were tested experimentally for two ventilation modes (panel vents, windshield and foot vents). With prepared simulation model thermal behavior, physiological reactions (skin temperatures) and thermal sensations of the driver were predicted. In the experiments air temperatures and velocities around the human body segments were measured at 11 and 17 different points respectively. Relative humidity measurements were performed from the head region of the driver. In the theoretical studies, dynamic and close loop Matlab-Simulink model of the human body was developed. In the simulation, the human body separated to 16 body segments to predict local dissatisfactions. The model was justified with the obtained experimental data from the literature. Studies revealed that heating the automobile compartment with panel vents mode air temperature at foot level could not reached desired values. For panel vents mode high air velocities affect driver body segments especially arms and hands owing to exposed vent air directly. This causes considerable temperature decline and low thermal sensations at skin surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates several mitigation strategies to detect which has the biggest effect on thermal comfort parameters, namely temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed in a neighborhood in Beirut, the capital city of Lebanon. The strategies include changing the ground surface albedo, replacing old buildings with new ones, and adding vegetation. The simulations, conducted on ENVI-met V4 software, were run on the 20th of January and August representing the two major seasons in the country, winter and summer, respectively. The simulations were carried out on a 200 x 200 x 46-m domain at a resolution of 2 m, which permits the study of small-scale interfaces between buildings, surfaces, and vegetation. The paper then represents various types of lateral boundary conditions (LBC) and illustrates the effects of expanding the area of buildings surrounding the field of interest. The present study will allow urban planners to determine the policies required to ameliorate the urban living environment in cities like Beirut. The simulation exhibits that the greatest impact on thermal comfort parameters is vegetation. It was eminent that the occupancy of vegetation is the most effective mitigation strategy given its capability of enhancing the thermal comfort conditions at the pedestrian's pathway sidewalks. The maximum decrease in air temperature was 2.4 °C at 17:00 on August 20th, while the maximum decrease in the mean radiant temperature was 10.5 °C at 12 at noon on the 20th of August. • Impact of different types of Boundary Conditions (BCs) on study domain is explored. • A buffer zone is used to ameliorate errors introduced by non-realistic lateral BCs. • Vegetation plays an important role in cooling urban areas. • Increasing the albedo fraction leads to an increase in mean radiant temperature. • Adding vegetation decreases the mean radiant temperature by 10.5 °C at noon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]