Center for the Built Environment

INTRODUCTION: Currently most thermal sensation models were developed based on the physiological and comfort studies of western people, ethnic and culture differences have not been taken into account. Chinese may present different thermal response from western people.

MODEL DEVELOPMENT: UCB thermal sensation model developed by Zhang has the structure which allows for changes of its coefficients to fit the model to various types of populations. The model coefficients were modified based on experimental data of Chinese people for a better prediction.

MODEL VALIDATIONS: Better predications were achieved with the modified Chinese model comparing with the western models, the differences in thermal sensation between predictions and laboratory and field study results are less than 0.5 scale unit.

CONCLUSIONS: A thermal sensation model was developed to provide better predictions of overall thermal sensation for Chinese people, with discrepancies less than 0.5 scale.