The transportation of influenza virus in a group of buildings under the condition of natural wind field was studied. The curves of natural wind power spectrum and the velocity field with respect to time were simulated by the improved weighted amplitude wave superposition with fast Fourier transform. According to Davenport spectrum, the approximation function of wind velocity field with respect to time

The acoustic environment in an urban dwelling is a key factor in human health, especially in megacities, where there are high levels of traffic noise. This study investigated the effects of various socio-economic indicators (gender, age, roadside residence, average daily time at home) on the subjective evaluation of residential acoustic environments, employing a series of questionnaire surveys and

This study investigated the effect of airflow distance from a personalized ventilation (PV) system on the personal exposure of a PV user to exhaled droplets from different orientations. Constant and dynamic airflow from the PV system was studied. A PV system was designed to produce both constant and dynamic airflows with different periods. Thermal manikins were used to simulate a healthy person (HP)

This special issue, ‘Building Environmental Control for the Wellbeing of Occupants’ was initiated in response to the increasing demand for a better environmental control for the wellbeing of occupants, and in consideration of the government policy1 and the introduction of Chinese standards on ventilation for environmental control of indoor environments, which have been reviewed.2 The environmental

Indoor corrosion inside electric boxes is important for the reliability of electric and electronic instruments. A parallel evaluation of indoor/outdoor atmospheric corrosion of steel, pollutants and meteorological parameters was made at two sites, i.e. a rural site and a coastal site of the Tabasco State, Mexico. Two exposure conditions were evaluated: outdoors and inside electric boxes. Very low levels

Computational fluid dynamics have been used to numerically study the particle diffusion and deposition in a residential kitchen under several ventilation modes. First, combining the renormalized group turbulent model with cooking release conditions, the airflow field in a kitchen was simulated and its airflow characteristics were analysed. Second, the drift flux model was adopted to predict the spatial

The water tank is most commonly a crucial energy storage device of a solar heating system. However, few existing studies have focused on the quantitative analysis of the heat discharge process of a square water tank. In this paper, a multi-units water tank with phase change material (MWT-PCM) was proposed. The dynamic heat discharge performances of the MWT-PCM and the conventional water tank both with

Radiant system has been increasingly applied in buildings due to its good thermal comfort and energy-saving potential. In this research, a simplified predicted mean vote (PMV) model and sensible cooling load equation were proposed based on human thermal comfort. Simulations were carried out using Airpak to explore relationships among thermal comfort characteristics, design and operation parameters

This study was to explore gender differences in response to subjective comfortable thermal environment by performing human experiments in summer. A total of six discontinuous conditions for self-regulating ambient temperature were designed with five males and five females. Sleep onset latency and slow wave sleep, from the physiological indices of electroencephalograph, electromyography and electrooculography

Local ductwork components, such as shunt T-elbows, generate aerodynamic noise in ventilation and air-conditioning systems where turbulent air flow dissipates pulsation. The noise generated by airflow propagates along the ductwork to the end that terminates into a room. The incident acoustic energy may affect the working efficiency and health of the occupants. In this study, computational fluid dynamics

Open spaces in Hong Kong are in short supply and they are often underused due to the adverse climate, especially in hot and humid summer. This is a missed opportunity that can be otherwise realized to promote health and social interactions for local communities. The high density urban environment makes the condition worse by raising the urban heat island effect and leaving planners with fewer mitigation

The hybrid philosophy behind the mixed-mode (MM) strategy aims at achieving energy-efficient buildings and sustainable development. A performance-based open-plan office design facilitates the handling of multiple design parameters to identify optimal design solutions for effective MM offices. This research presents a method of open-plan office design for an improved natural ventilation potential and

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) could influences employees' satisfaction and performance in office buildings. Previous research have suggested that factors such as gender, age, proximity from a window could influence employees' perceived satisfaction with IEQ. This study as a part of an ongoing research attempts to investigate the impact of workspace location on employees' satisfaction with IEQ

Several studies reported that the long-term thermal history of the human body affects its thermal comfort and preferences. We conducted a tropical field study in Sanya city, China; 1512 questionnaires were collected from tourists. The tourists had five thermal histories associated with five different climate regions (cold, severely cold, hot summer, cold winter, hot summer and warm winter and temperate

Accessibility is a critical interior design consideration that increases performance level and allows older adults to be independent and physically active in their daily activities. This study used a case study to present a new method of combining ageing simulation with personas through importance-performance analysis (IPA) and supporting the basic activities of daily living (BADL). This study developed

The heat radiation in a residential kitchen was simulated by CFD (Computational-fluid-dynamics) to evaluate the cooling by a radiant cooling ceiling panel and pollution dispersion by the range hood and the air extraction system. The kitchen has a 2-hobs stove and a fume hood for removing waste heat and fumes. The simulation was validated by measurements in a domestic kitchen in a home in Changsha,

For affordance-based design, which is especially lacking in the architecture field, this study investigates the relationships between affordances and interior elements in the built environment by understanding intrinsic affordances by users. The ethnographic case study was conducted by unobtrusively observing participant behaviours during given tasks using video recordings, voice recordings and photographs

In this research, real-time changes in dust concentration were monitored at a typical grinding and sealing workshop during actual operation. Results indicated that particle size was between 10.0 and 50.0 µm, and the most abundant elements were Si and Al. The average daily dust exposure value (ADD) was taken as basis when performing the occupational risk assessment. The largest ADD values for the workshop

Particle deposition and penetration in buildings has been widely studied, but the effect of indoor characteristics merits further investigation, so improved experimental methods may be needed. The present study measured indoor and outdoor concentrations of PM2.5 and estimated PM2.5 deposition rates and penetration factors under a variety of different indoor situations, with a novel method (blower-door

Association between home environment and childhood asthma and allergies among preschool children in subtropical South China is unclear. We investigated doctor-diagnosed asthma, eczema and allergic rhinitis (AR) in preschool children due to the exposure to indoor dampness and residential environment. One thousand nine hundred forty-six children (3–6 years) from 22 kindergartens in Foshan participated

Detections of different thermal problems resort to approaches that utilize different indices, respectively. From an engineering viewpoint, they are neither flexible in detecting multiple thermal problems nor flexible in dealing with new concerned thermal problems. This article proposes a multiple-conformance approach to requirements that modelled by hybrid automata for flexibly detecting temperature

Building natural ventilation can effectively prevent the building from overheating and eliminate indoor pollutants, including viral aerosols and volatile organic compounds, without consuming energy. Natural ventilation by wind force is influenced by many factors, making it difficult to calculate accurately. This increases the complexity of designing natural ventilation systems. In this study, we use

Particles emitted from the kitchen have been proven as one of the major indoor particulate pollutants which could pose serious risk on human health. Thus, it is critical to study the migration of kitchen particles and the impact of kitchen particles on non-kitchen zones. Since Chinese domestic kitchens are equipped with exhaust hoods, the capture efficiency of an exhaust hood in real residence was

Despite the existence of plentiful studies on how plants can positively affect human wellbeing, few have focused on the potential effects of flower colours on stressed people. The present study was designed to illustrate the psychophysiological relaxation impacts of seeing purple and blue hydrangea flowers among finance workers. Thirty employees were asked to view purple, blue flowers or an empty table

The global pandemic of Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) necessitated the rapid construction of field hospitals as the main strategies to control the detrimental effects of the outbreak. Little is known about the extent of the environmental contamination of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in an urgently field hospital. A total of 66 surface samples were randomly collected

Indirect evaporative cooling is a rapidly developing air-handling technology and has great application potentials for energy recovery in hot and humid regions. The condensation in dry channels of an indirect evaporative cooler (IEC) occurs when the dew point temperature of outdoor air is high. However, the dynamic heat transfer performance of an IEC during the process of condensation evolution was

In regions with a hot-summer/cold-winter climate, a balance between energy-saving and better daylighting performance is often required for the design of a glass roof system. This research aims to reduce the total energy demand and to increase the useful daylight illuminance (UDI), by introducing a response-surface-methodology-based bi-objective optimization approach for three glass roof system models

With the increasing density of built spaces in urban areas, the need for open spaces increases every day. Squares are one of the most important of these open spaces. Urban squares allow various activities and exhibit functional differences based on location and culture. The diversity of activities conducted in squares is extremely important for the quality and viability of liveable urban spaces. Urban

In this paper, the building environment and the thermal comfort of occupants were investigated at a university building located in severe cold climate zone in the northwest of China during winter, transition and summer. First, in the two typical weather days of the year, the thermal environment of the Shihezi University building with atrium and courtyard was measured on the spot to investigate the

Aerosol generated from a human cough can be a potential major indoor health risk due to the possible transmission of infectious respiratory diseases to surrounding individuals within the same room and even could spread out via air-ventilation/conditioning systems. This study aims to investigate the transport characteristics and trajectory of coughed aerosols under the influence of conditioned air ventilation

In subway stations, the piston effect plays an important role in enhancing ventilation to improve subway environment and reduce energy consumption. However, it may induce negative impacts on environmental health and thermal comfort, i.e. air pollution and strong wind. Traditionally, the architecture and ventilation systems are designed separately, and normal ventilation design follows architectural

Desiccant-based hybrid air-conditioning technologies are currently being developed to reduce energy consumption and enhance the effectiveness of indoor thermal environmental control in buildings. The purpose of this study is to propose a compact desiccant-based outdoor air-conditioning system that directly uses heated desorption and cooled adsorption with comparatively low-temperature energy, and to

Installed solar photovoltaic generation is expanding fast in western China, with total capacity accounting for >15% of global photovoltaic capacity. However, severe aerosol pollution over western China has weakened the solar radiation reaching the panels. We assessed the impact of aerosol pollution on photovoltaic power generation at the city level in western China from 2014 to 2018. Over northwestern

The main purpose of this study was to examine the influence of visible greenness rate, green coverage ratio and distance from plants on human perceptions and parameters of the physical environment. A secondary purpose was to explore the correlation between parameters of physical environment and human perceptions when indoor plants were present. A randomized controlled trial was conducted. Experimental

Window opening behaviour is one of the most important factors for indoor air environment. The traditional models for window opening behaviour rarely focus on the window opening proportion, which has an important effect on optimal design of natural ventilation. A hybrid model combining the logistic regression model with a probability distribution model was proposed to analyse the window state distribution

The effectiveness of the increase in passive ventilation was studied as remedial action for high concentrations of indoor radon gas activity. The rationale has been to apply the provisions of Directive 2013/59/EURATOM, partially implemented by a regional law of Puglia Region (Southern Italy). Residential buildings were selected based on characteristics common to those of commercial premises, which

People ubiquitously produce CO2. The quantitative relationship between the CO2 concentration and pedestrian flow needs to be determined if the CO2 concentration is to be used to reflect pedestrian flow. Therefore, a field test was carried out to measure the CO2 concentration and pedestrian flow in an evacuation passageway of a densely populated building. The results show that the variation in the CO2

The climate of Yangtze River Basin in China is cold and humid in winter. Conventional air-conditioning systems may cause high energy consumption and uncomfortable microclimatic conditions especially for lower body of indoor occupants. This study investigated four personalized seat heating systems, in a typical office room in Shanghai during winter, based on heated floor panels including heated floor

This study evaluates the feasibility of a control method, ‘the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution’ (TOPSIS) for the optimization of the subzone thermal environment by optimizing the oscillating airflow generated from a cassette split type air conditioner. To address the quasi-dynamic thermal comfort problems, various operation swinging angles of the louvre in the supply

This research aims to evaluate the relationship between the environmental and design parameters of the air conditioning system, and the presence of colony-forming units (CFUs) of bacteria on surfaces. This retrospective study was carried out in controlled environment rooms in 12 hospitals in Spain, as part of a periodic environmental biosecurity assessment programme. Between 2010 and 2017, a total

Particle inhalation is associated with adverse respiratory outcomes including death. Particle deposition in the respiratory tract and therefore the type and severity of health outcomes depend on size that varies by type and source. The size distribution of particle mass generated by indoor activities such as cooking, cleaning, visitors, smoking and candle/incense burning was monitored in this study

This study investigated the physiological thermal response of people under simulated weightlessness using a 6° head down bed rest (HDBR) model to ensure the human body functions in the weightlessness way. Thermal responses of six male participants were experimentally determined. The relationship between thermal comfort and heart rate variability (HRV) was also scrutinized. Physiological responses of

The built environment is how human beings express themselves spatially in the course of history. As one of the most important concepts of the built environment in the theory of human-land relationships, ‘place’ is formed by the combination of natural and human factors.1 While ‘place’ is defined as a space that is relevant, historical and related to identity, a space that does not have these characteristics

The formaldehyde (HCHO) and volatile organic compound (VOCs) pollution characteristics of the residential kitchen in severe cold regions of northeast China were investigated by on-site measurement, questionnaire and correlation analysis. A total of 33 residential kitchens in three cities were selected as samples. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, phenol reagent spectrophotometer and 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine

Fine dust is one of the important factors affecting precision instruments and human health, and the pleated filter media has been widely used in air filtration field. Based on the SEM image of the actual pleated filter media, a microscopic 3D model of the pleated filter media was established and the gas–solid two-phase flow was simulated using OpenFOAM. The results show that OpenFOAM can well simulate

Particle detachment induced by a rotating wheel was investigated theoretically and experimentally. The developed theoretical models were used to reveal how the particle detaches from a wheel surface to the surrounding air. The corresponding experiments were carried out to validate proposed models. Two groups of spherical particles were considered, i.e. silicon dioxide and aluminium oxide particles

The measurement of 222Rn and 220Rn concentrations in air was carried out in 50 dwellings belonging to 20 locations in and around Mandya city, Karnataka. Annual mean values of 222Rn and 220Rn concentrations were found to be 22.4 ± 1.5 and 24.1 ± 1.8 Bq m−3, respectively. The total annual effective dose received by the general public due to radon and thoron was found to be 1.36 ± 0.08 mSv y−1. The doses

The accurate identification of the characteristics of pollutant sources can effectively prevent the loss of human life and property damage caused by the sudden release of harmful chemicals in emergency situations. Machine learning algorithms, artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine (SVM), k-nearest neighbour (KNN) and naive Bayesian (NB) classification can be used to identify the location

Aircraft cabin mockup has been accepted as a benchmark tool to study the aircraft cabin environment. Some researchers used computational fluid dynamics to predict the cabin environment, but the model always needs to be validated by accurate and comprehensive experimental data obtained from the cabin mockup. This study measured thermo-fluid boundary conditions, airflow and temperature distributions

For tropical seaside cities, the net advection heat flux plays a significant role in local urban heat island (UHI) formation during the nocturnal time. However, the net advection heat flux is usually neglected in conventional modelling methods. An improved urban canopy model (UCM) has been developed to simulate the UHI effect in the tropical seaside cities. The model was proposed by introducing an

The full use of renewable energy sources such as solar energy to meet the various energy supply needs of buildings is now a research focus and an industry development trend, as energy consumption has been increasing and environmental pollution has become a serious problem. In the high-cold and high-altitude area in western China, due to the abundant solar energy and hydropower resources, the use of

In this study, electret media were loaded with neutralized and charged potassium chloride (KCl) to examine the effect of charged solid particles on loading behaviour. The media were then loaded with diethylhexyl sebacate (DEHS), dipropylene glycol (DPG) and glycerol to obtain a correlation between the efficiency degradation and liquid aerosol. The results indicated that the efficiency of electret media

A liquid desiccant air dehumidifier (LDAD) with both high efficiency and low desiccant carryover is of vital significance to indoor environment. However, the instability introduced by desiccant film flow tends to deteriorate the droplets entrainment in product air and remains to be solved. In this study, a novel disk-type liquid desiccant air dehumidifier with no film flow (DLDAD) was developed to

A mixing ventilation system integrated with a ceiling cooling system is a potential advanced heating, ventilation and air conditioning system for modern office buildings with a high sensible cooling load. This paper presents an evaluation of the effect of sensible cooling load on the indoor air distribution in a typical office room with mixing ventilation and ceiling cooling. The vertical distributions

The traditional widely used Chinese Kang heating system has been gradually becoming obsolete, due to the coal or wood burning emission that causes poor indoor air quality. In the interest to preserve the rural life, this study evaluated the performance of a retrofitted traditional Kang heating system with the use of alternative clean energy in a rural-dwelling in Xi'an, China. An air source heat pump

The manual control of windows is one of the common adaptive behaviours for occupants to adjust their indoor environment in homes. The cross-ventilation by the window opening provides a useful tool to control the thermal comfort and indoor air quality in homes. The objective of this study was to develop a modelling methodology for predicting individual occupant's behaviour relating to the manual control

Background Bringing features of nature indoors can positively influence indicators of human stress. Since wood is a natural material, it may produce similar benefits. The objective of the review was to (1) examine the influence of visual (real or virtual) contact with either real or imitated indoor wooden surfaces on certain stress indicators, that is affective, physiological or cognitive performance

In this article, a comparative study on the outdoor air pollutant prevention and indoor thermal comfort for different types of ventilation was carried out. Both objective experiment, subjective experiment and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation were conducted to investigate the differences in air pollutant prevention and thermal comfort between four common ventilation methods, namely supplying

Volatile organic compounds, several of which may impact health, have many possible indoor sources. To further investigate this, we tested the association between indoor concentrations of 47 passively collected volatile organic compounds and both home characteristics and occupant behaviours in a Canadian population-based sample of 3454 participants. Homes with smokers were excluded from analysis. Homes

For large space buildings like industrial plants with huge heat generation, the role that surface-source plumes play becomes more crucial. To study the air distribution and movement of plumes, the first step is to quantify how the airflow gets distributed in chambers. The experiment was carried out in a thermostatic chamber where there was no ventilation. Four hundred flow field snapshots (in each