Perceived Thermal Environment of NaturallyVentilated Classrooms in India

A ield study of thermal environment in naturally ventilated classrooms was conducted in the Department of Architecture at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. The study included 176 architecture students and was conducted over ive days during the comparatively cool months of December and January. The results show that 82% of participants voted for ‘comfortable’ on the thermal sensation scale. Cross tabulation of thermal sensation and thermal preference shows that 50% of those who voted within the ‘neutral’ thermal sensation range preferred cooler temperatures and 43% wanted no change. Classroom temperature was acceptable to 85% of students and unacceptable to 15% of students. Perceived thermal sensation tends toward the cool side (mean -0.26). Regression analysis yielded a comfort zone (voting within -1 and +1) of 26.9–30.8 °C, with neutral temperature of 29.0 °C. Standard adaptive comfort models yielded lower temperature than ield indings.