Thermal performance evaluation of school buildings using a children-based adaptive comfort model
Thermal performance evaluation of school buildings using a children-based adaptive comfort model
This paper investigates the thermal performance of four school buildings of different ages and characteristics, using current EU overheating criteria and ‘adjusted’ criteria based on children’s lower comfort temperature found in recent research. Data collected in Southampton, UK, between 2011-2015 are used in the analysis, which consists of two parts: a) the development of an adaptive comfort model associating children’s comfort temperature to outdoor climate based on approximately 2,800 thermal comfort responses from children, and b) the thermal performance evaluation of four case study schools (built in 1894, 1929, 1978 and 2013) with the use of 5-minute air temperature measurements during spring/summer from a total of 43 classrooms. The two models, current (adult-based) and adapted to pupils, are applied to the methodology for overheating assessment based on the European standard EN 15251. Results show that there is no overheating in the schools when the classroom temperatures were assessed with the current adult-based model, while when using the children-based model overheating was identified in three out of the four schools. Interestingly, the school with the most acceptable summer performance is the oldest, an 1890s medium-weight building. The modern (2013) school had the most stable, yet high air temperatures amongst the studied schools. The study highlights the emerging issue of summer overheating in heating-dominated countries such as the UK, where this has not been traditionally a concern. The problem is exacerbated by a single-sided focus on reducing heating loads without taking appropriate measures for summer comfort, the global warming trends and children’s sensitivity to high temperatures. This paper highlights the challenge of designing school buildings with acceptable year-round thermal and energy performance and the need to set higher standards in the school building design, using children-based criteria.
Overheating, School buildings, Adaptive comfort, Children's thermal comfort
844-851
Teli, Despoina
4e57e6dd-e0dc-49ef-b711-974ba1c978df
Bourikas, Leonidas
5faf69fc-1b5a-4613-ae9f-cd135092af9c
James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Bahaj, Abubakr
a64074cc-2b6e-43df-adac-a8437e7f1b37
2017
Teli, Despoina
4e57e6dd-e0dc-49ef-b711-974ba1c978df
Bourikas, Leonidas
5faf69fc-1b5a-4613-ae9f-cd135092af9c
James, Patrick
da0be14a-aa63-46a7-8646-a37f9a02a71b
Bahaj, Abubakr
a64074cc-2b6e-43df-adac-a8437e7f1b37
Teli, Despoina, Bourikas, Leonidas, James, Patrick and Bahaj, Abubakr
(2017)
Thermal performance evaluation of school buildings using a children-based adaptive comfort model.
Procedia Environmental Sciences, 38, .
(doi:10.1016/j.proenv.2017.03.170).
Abstract
This paper investigates the thermal performance of four school buildings of different ages and characteristics, using current EU overheating criteria and ‘adjusted’ criteria based on children’s lower comfort temperature found in recent research. Data collected in Southampton, UK, between 2011-2015 are used in the analysis, which consists of two parts: a) the development of an adaptive comfort model associating children’s comfort temperature to outdoor climate based on approximately 2,800 thermal comfort responses from children, and b) the thermal performance evaluation of four case study schools (built in 1894, 1929, 1978 and 2013) with the use of 5-minute air temperature measurements during spring/summer from a total of 43 classrooms. The two models, current (adult-based) and adapted to pupils, are applied to the methodology for overheating assessment based on the European standard EN 15251. Results show that there is no overheating in the schools when the classroom temperatures were assessed with the current adult-based model, while when using the children-based model overheating was identified in three out of the four schools. Interestingly, the school with the most acceptable summer performance is the oldest, an 1890s medium-weight building. The modern (2013) school had the most stable, yet high air temperatures amongst the studied schools. The study highlights the emerging issue of summer overheating in heating-dominated countries such as the UK, where this has not been traditionally a concern. The problem is exacerbated by a single-sided focus on reducing heating loads without taking appropriate measures for summer comfort, the global warming trends and children’s sensitivity to high temperatures. This paper highlights the challenge of designing school buildings with acceptable year-round thermal and energy performance and the need to set higher standards in the school building design, using children-based criteria.
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1-s2.0-S1878029617301810-main
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 19 October 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 April 2017
Published date: 2017
Keywords:
Overheating, School buildings, Adaptive comfort, Children's thermal comfort
Organisations:
Energy & Climate Change Group
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 407857
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/407857
ISSN: 1878-0296
PURE UUID: e4adfb24-7f76-4ad0-810b-6f5176b1c8cd
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Date deposited: 27 Apr 2017 01:07
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:45
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Author:
Leonidas Bourikas
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