Indoor wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was extensively used to evaluate the indoor hot environment in a naturally ventilated building, but it does not consider the effect of air movement caused by the hot surface. A potential evaluation index, which is a difference between the mean radiant temperature and the air temperature (Δtr–a), was introduced to be integrated with the indoor WBGT to evaluate

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been proven to be a versatile tool for indoor environment simulations. The discretization of computational domain (mesh generation) determines the reliability of CFD simulation and computational cost. For cases with complex/irregular geometries, the widely utilized tetrahedral meshes have critical limitations, including low accuracy, considerate grid number and

Increasing evidence supports the significant role of short-range airborne transmission of viruses when in close contact with a source patient. A full-scale ventilated room (Cleanliness: ISO 14644–1 Class 5) and two face-to-face standing breathing thermal manikins were used to simulate a source individual and a susceptible person. Monodisperse particle generation and measurement techniques were used

Until now, the significance of environmental regulation for disciplinary autonomy of architecture is still being underestimated.1,2 Reyner Banham3 wrote in the very beginning of his literal works ‘The Architecture of the Well-tempered Environment’:

Three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic (CFD) methods were used to simulate a cough jet that contains droplets. The turbulent cough flow is modelled using large-eddy simulation with a dynamic structure model. An Eulerian–Lagrangian approach was adopted to model the two-phase flows. Droplet breakup, evaporation, dispersion and drag forces were considered in the model. Two different inlet velocity

A high-performance smoke exhaust system is vital for maintaining a tenable environment during fire accidents evacuation. This study proposes a novel vortex flow driven smoke exhaust system to delay the smoke filling process during the atrium fire accident. The complex fluid movement and combustion reactions were predicted using Fire Dynamics Simulator, and the predicted smoke filling process was identified

Infection risk is commonly used to predict potential health impacts of airborne respiratory diseases such as ‘severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)' and associated environment conditions and mitigation measures. The assumption of perfect air-mixing in spaces is widely applied in prediction, which projects a single mean risk of infection in the space. Detailed distribution of

A residential building which had been subjected to an energy efficiency measures study had its indoor thermal climate investigated using two software approaches to understand how each approach would predict the outcome, using the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD). The computational fluid dynamics software (ANSYS CFX) and the building performance simulation (BPS) software (IDA ICE) were used

The term ‘carbon neutrality’ was originally introduced in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change – UNFCCC COP21 Paris Climate Accord, December 2015.1 This has become a household buzzword in recent years. Carbon neutrality is a balance between carbon source reduction and carbon absorption, i.e. reducing carbon emission sources while also having an important consideration on carbon

Due to the consideration of people’s well-being and environmental comfort, as well as the building performance, which are being demanded as important design requirements by modern society’s standards,1–9 nowadays, many researchers and practitioners are evaluating environmental sustainability and human factors of building design and management to comply with these sustainable building criteria. Better

Thermal retrofits of homes are central to the UK's fuel poverty and net zero carbon policies but there are concerns about poor quality installation and so new standards are to be introduced (PAS2035). We have explored retrofit installers' perceptions of the barriers to installing internal wall insulation (IWI) and of current regulations and standards for retrofits. We conducted four focus groups with

In factories where high-risk chemical pollutants are treated, it is essential to anticipate response measures in the event of chemical pollutant leakage to minimize adverse health effects on workers. When high-risk liquid chemical pollutants are assumed to be leaked inside enclosed spaces, it becomes crucial to predict the non-uniform concentration distributions in enclosed spaces and evaluate the

Building-related health symptoms are multifactorial, hence a comprehensive study is needed to identify associations of such symptoms with building aspects. Previous studies have identified certain building characteristics as risk factors for both dry eyes and headaches, which are among the most prevalent symptoms suffered by office workers. This study investigated associations of dry eyes and headaches

The legal regulations and cultural environment for smoking bans in hotels and motels in South Korea differ depending on the type of accommodation. The aim of this study was to assess the thirdhand smoke exposure for hotel and motel guests staying at accommodations who are expected to be relatively vulnerable to thirdhand smoke. Biomarkers for 28 participants were assessed before and after lodging at

Ambitious energy efficiency goals constitute an important roadmap towards attaining a low-carbon society. Thus, various building-related stakeholders have introduced regulations targeting the energy efficiency of buildings. However, some countries still lack such policies. This paper is an effort to help bridge this gap for Northern Cyprus, a country devoid of building energy regulations that still

This study investigated effects of incident wind angles on wind velocity distributions in wakes of two generic building configurations, namely, ‘T’- and ‘+’-shaped, and the air pressure distributions along their leeward walls by using computational fluid dynamics simulations. Results show that when the wind approaches laterally (90°) (vs. when the wind is direct (0°)), the downwind length and maximum

The indoor air quality (IAQ) of five low-energy London apartments has been assessed through the measurement of 16 key pollutants, using continuous and diffusive methods across heating and non-heating seasons. This case study approach aimed to assess the presence of pollutants within low-energy apartments and to better understand the role of ventilation and seasonal variations in indoor air quality

This research presents a comparative study and an indoor thermal comfort analysis of self-constructed dwellings with different roofing in the Lower Papaloapan River Basin in Mexico. These include concrete roofs, zinc-coated sheet metal, asbestos sheets and palm fronds, all with and without false ceilings. The comparative study takes into account the identification and analysis of different architectural

Occupant health can be strongly influenced by indoor air quality due to time spent indoors (90%). Such quality can be impacted by indoor atmospheric pollutants present. Therefore, demand-controlled ventilation can be a key to improving indoor air quality. The main aim herein is to scrutinize measurement results of several air pollutants possibly existing inside university building including CO2, volatile

Sick building syndrome is a group of symptoms relatively common among office workers; such symptoms could have an impact on the worker's productivity. The aim of this research is to provide a better understanding of the relation between design elements, indoor environmental quality and sick building syndrome within office spaces in Cairo, Egypt. Results show that a healthy environment leads to higher

In tunnel fire, smoke is a great threat to successful emergency escapes, and its spreading patterns at high altitude tunnel may differ. Therefore, the impact of ambient pressure on the stability of smoke layers and maximum smoke temperature under ceiling in ventilated tunnels were investigated in this study. Results show that the temperature of smoke layer is negatively correlated with the longitudinal

Historic buildings in urban areas are valuable heritage and would require effective design for renovation to upgrade these buildings while preserving their heritage characteristics. This current study evaluated renovation requirements: loss of natural and spatial characteristics, single function and lack of building facade design, of a courtyard building in a Beijing historical district. Limitations

The need to communicate, as an important human need, can be secured through attending public spaces such as the cultural environment, especially in developing countries where women do not prefer visiting these spaces alone. By using 304 questionnaires, the present study investigated the influence of cultural centres’ factors in social interactions of women over 18 years old in Tabriz, Iran. Confirmatory

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a kind of carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic pollutants that exist widely. In this study, a quarterly emission inventory of 16 PAHs listed as the US EPA priority pollutants was established by using the emission factor (EF) method. The results showed that the distribution of PAHs in different industries varied greatly with different year and quarter.

Field or laboratory measurements are commonly conducted to determine phthalates concentrations in spaces. This study investigated the association between various influencing factors and indoor phthalates concentrations. Back-propagation (BP) Neural Network was employed to verify a prediction model of indoor phthalates concentration with 80% of experimental data and 20% remaining data. The validation

The air flow and pollutant concentration fields in a street canyon affected by trees could affect the comfort and health of residents. At present, the description of the non-uniform/discontinuous distribution of leaves is difficult. In this study, the leaf distribution in the canopy was characterized by establishing non-continuous (uniform/random) algorithm based on a numerical simulation method, and

The district heating system that uses the hybrid operation of distributed variable speed pumps and regulating valves can effectively reduce the pressure level at the far-end of the heating network, while retaining the energy saving advantages of the distributed variable speed pump system and ensuring the safe operation of the heating network. In this study, pipe network optimization based on genetic

In the current study, the performance of the counterflow dehumidification test rig using wood shaving packing has been analysed. Wood shaving packing with the density 500 kg/m3 was used along with the CaCl2 desiccant with varying concentration. Mass flow rate of air was varied and the dehumidification performance parameters like moisture removal rate, dehumidification efficiency, coefficient of performance

A cohort case–control study was conducted in XiangYa Hospital, Changsha, China, which involved 305 patients and 399 healthy women, from June 2010 to December 2018, to evaluate the association between Chinese women’s short- and long-term exposure to industrial air pollutant, SO2 and gynaecological cancer (GC). We obtained personal and family information from the XiangYa Hospital electronic computer

COVID-19 (Corona virus disease, 2019) is a worldwide public health emergency and the disease has been spreading globally at an alarming rate.1,2 There is an urgent need to reduce the healthcare transmission risk among healthcare workers and patients in hospitals due to the pandemic. In the indoor environment, the respiratory infection can be transmitted via direct contact with surfaces contaminated

Globalization and urbanization have caused unprecedented impacts in local identification and cultural protection, and rivers that cross administrative boundaries have attracted attention in the protection of local cultural heritage, resource integration and mobilization. This study selected several cities in the Yellow River Basin and the Rhine River Basin as examples, using street view images, combining

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been considered as an innovation, which ventures out a smarter world spanning the actual world with the digital world. Even though the IoT idea has picked up a lot of consideration during the most recent couple of many years, genuine execution of huge scope IoT network is as yet developing. Globalization has associated urban communities on inverse sides of the planet

A safe and effective evacuation route is important for reducing casualties during building fires, and this topic has been a long-term focus of emergency management. Indoor space is a space within one or multiple buildings consisting of architectural components and is the basis of indoor route analyses. Based on indoor space, an indoor network model is designed that considers fire protection design

In the past 30 years, tubular daylight guide systems (TDGSs) have become one of the most popular ways to transport outdoor natural light into the inner space in building design. However, tubular daylight guide systems are not widely used because of the lack of methods to evaluate methods on the suitability of the TDGSs. This study therefore summarizes the daylight performance metrics of TDGSs and presents

Metro trains running in tunnels cause piston wind, and when a metro train stops in a tunnel due to a fire, the effect of the piston wind on smoke propagation characteristics cannot be ignored. In this paper, a theoretical model based on the unsteady flow theory of the Bernoulli equation was established to describe the change in piston wind speed under fire conditions. The characteristics of the smoke

The airflow distribution characterised by different large- and small-scale eddies in the aircraft cabin is the most important factor to maintain passengers' thermal comfort and to remove contaminants. The airflow distributions in narrow-body aircraft cabins are based on the principle of mixing ventilation. Opposing jets from air diffusers can cause stream deflection and oscillation, which results in

This paper aims to investigate the implication of present and future bioclimatic potential of passive heating and cooling design strategies for climate change scenarios of five locations covering all climate zones of India. Weather data for future climate change were developed for A2 (medium-high) scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for four time slices, namely TMY (Typical

This work is centred on an ancient Italian church. Since 2011, a restoration plan has been undertaken by following sequential phases. The methodological approach to restoration was guided by environmental monitoring campaigns. In particular, two thermo-hygrometric campaigns were carried out during the warm months of the years 2015 and 2016. The first set of measurements was executed during the restoration

The experiment was targeted to develop design strategies and methods by testing the complex interplay between the dynamics of daylight and electrical lighting in an office. The double dynamic lighting design concept is based on the idea of adding task lighting, with a directionality referring to the daylight inflow and a variation on direct/diffuse lighting and respective changes in colour temperature

Radon, thoron and their progeny concentration have been measured in dwellings located within a 90 km2 area around a nuclear power plant using solid-state nuclear track detectors. Time-integrated measurements were carried out on a four-month cycle, making three measurements in each dwelling throughout the year. In total, 145 dwellings were selected for the study. The measured values of gas and their

Cultural Landscape is the result of human culture acting on the natural landscape, and it is a landscape created by both human and nature.1 Settlement Cultural Landscape is a type of cultural landscape, which is the masterpiece created by human in the long-term life and production. It includes people’s learning of nature, exploiting of nature, production development and life creation. The masterpiece

The industrial release of submicron aerosol particles at workplace could cause undue health effect on workers. To effectively capture and remove airborne particles, we need to study the characteristics of various interactive particle motion forces (drag force, Brownian force, Saffman lift force, etc.) and the dispersion of these aerosol particles in indoor air. In this study, the dominant force of

Thermal conditions in operating rooms are mainly dictated by the need to meet the safety/comfort requirements of the patient. However, the accuracy of performed surgical procedures depends on the surgeon and others members of medical team. Hence, their comfort sensation should be also factored in. The study sought to find out how thermal sensations of people working in surgical clothing can be modified

The thermal insulation performance of a building's windows can have an important role in its energy-saving capability. In this work, we proposed a novel, energy-saving insulated window (ESIW) and investigated its winter insulation ability by conducting temperature, comfort, energy and entropy analyses of a house outfitted with the ESIW system. The natural indoor temperature of houses with ESIW(A) structure

In addition to typical indoor and outdoor spaces, there are numerous transitional spaces in a building that are unlike indoor and outdoor spaces, where most people spend time for entertainment. There is a need to investigate the comparison between these three types of spaces, including indoor spaces, transitional spaces and outdoor spaces. In this study, the thermal responses and thermal environmental

With the ever-increasing trend of incorporation of various wastes into building materials, monitoring the potential rise in the radioactive load due to used waste is needed. This paper presents the results of our investigation into the radioactivity of cement mortars of various percentage of granulated blast furnace slag (GBFS). The calculated gamma indexes, Iγ, reached 0.19–0.22 and thus did not exceed

In recent years, the pollution of the air environment has been increasing, which has seriously endangered human health. The large amount of coal burning and automobile exhaust emissions in winter have caused serious regional pollution, which has greatly increased the prevalence of respiratory disease of people. The purpose of this study is to use Jilin Province as an example to map out the environmental

Unearthed historical sites represent non-renewable resources of significant historical, artistic and scientific value. Historical sites are usually preserved at the place where they were unearthed in order to maintain the original appearance. These sites are exposed to atmospheric processes and are facing serious challenges related to climate change, environmental pollution and human activities.1–3

The popularity of decoration and refurbishment of rental apartments in China may give rise to indoor VOC levels, posing health threats to tenants. A questionnaire was conducted on the renovation characteristics and tenant information of rental apartments in Beijing. The study selected 143 rental bedrooms to study the characteristics of HCHO and BTX (benzene, toluene and xylene) and assessed the health

This paper presents an experimental research study intended to evaluate daylight perception in work environments. The current metrics for assessing daylight in work environments involve quantifying daylight and do not provide insight into the actual appearance of the space, thus overlooking the qualitative aspects of light and their effect on occupants. Conceptual content cognitive mapping (3CM), a

This study investigated, using validated computational fluid dynamics techniques, the potential infection risks to medical staff when performing endotracheal intubation in the negative pressure isolation ward during treatment of COVID-19 patients. The research first simulated the airflow distribution in negative pressure isolation ward and then examined the potential infection risks to medical staff

Urban residents are suffering from serious thermal stress resulting from urban heat island and global warming. Investigators have explored several methods to address this issue. Vegetation, especially trees, were found to play a vital part in urban environments. It produces a cooling effect by reducing temperature and radiation levels. To find thermal performances of trees in detail, this study physically

As the most densely populated area, a city is an open and complex giant system. This has been widely agreed by scientists.1–3 ‘System’ is a complex entirety formed by a group of interacting or interdependent parts. Each system is divided by its spatial and temporal boundaries, influenced by its surrounding environment, described by its structure and purpose and reflected in its function.4 The open

Hygroscopic material can moderate the indoor humidity variation due to its moisture buffering effect. This effect would change when used as interior finish mainly due to air exchange and wall moisture transfer. The author focused on clarifying the extent of the wall'’s influence on indoor moisture buffering and building humidity environment. A room model was established and the situation of no wall

In recent years, several epidemics by transmissible respiratory viruses have emerged, especially pandemics caused by coronaviruses. The most significant public health emergency may be the COVID-19 pandemic. Identifying the transmission of infectious disease plays an important role in healthcare for protecting and implementing effective measures for public health. However, studies on SARS-CoV-2 transmission

As a public building for exercises and entertainments, gymnasiums play an important role in people's daily life. In regions with hot-humid climate, thermal sensation in gymnasiums is directly related to the human health as well as energy consumption. However, little can be found in the systematic evaluation system reported for thermal sensation of athletes in gymnasium in hot-humid climate regions;

Fangcang shelter hospitals – erected by installing medical equipment in large public venues – played an essential role during the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Their isolation, interior density and patients' mutual exposure deviate from normal living conditions, necessitating the study on the adaptation, social organisation and emotional response of patients. For this purpose, we conducted spatial analysis

To investigate the role of different pattern of ambient air pollutants exposure during early life on childhood pneumonia, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 3226 preschool children aged three to six years in Shenzhen, China during 2015 to 2016. Each child's exposure to three main air pollutants (PM10, SO2 and NO2) was calculated by the inverse distance weighted method. Multiple logistic regression

Colour of interior surfaces has to be considered in order to provide optimal visual and non-visual performance. Colour selection is often related to the occupant's colour preferences. First part of...

Most existing models and standards for volatile organic compounds emission assume that contaminants are uniform in the testing devices. In this study, a three-dimensional transient numerical model ...