LOCAL THERMAL COMFORT INDICES IMPACT ON PRODUCTIVITY LOSS IN CLASSROOMS

Abstract

The paper deals with a comprehensive CFD analysis of local thermal comfort indices in occupied classroom during the winter semester and the impact on students’ productivity loss. The investigation is done using CFD software, using a measured data as an input for initial conditions. The measurements were done in representative classroom at Faculty of Mechanical engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia during the four weeks in November and December 2015. The research consisted from a four scenarios, each with the different thermal conditions. The students were predominantly male population, age between 21 and 30. It is shown that the local thermal comfort indicators can be pretty much different than an average value, which implies with the bigger productivity losses locally. The results also showed that the students seated in a warmer zone of a classroom had a bigger productivity loss than the ones in the colder zones. The local air temperature values varied up to 2°C in comparison with an average value, which can significantly impact on local thermal comfort. The problem of productivity loss is very complex having in mind the nature of the human metabolism, clothing, habits, and total physical conditions and it always should be observed as an integrated part of a larger analysis including all these parameters.