Development of a Computational Thermal Manikin Applicable in a Non-Uniform Thermal Environment—Part 2: Coupled Simulation Using Sakoi's Human Thermal Physiological Model

In order to develop a computational thermal manikin to enable the prediction of the thermal sensation of an occupant in a non-uniform environment, in a previous paper (Zhu et al. 2007) we proposed and examined a simulation method combining Smith's human thermal physiological model with convective and radiant simulation by applying the proposed method to calculate the sensible heat transfer over the body surface of an occupant located in several radiant environments with an air temperature of 28°C. However, the simulation results greatly underestimated the skin temperatures at the limbs, even in uniform conditions, due to the improper modeling of the Arteriovenous Anastomose phenomenon in Smith's model. Accordingly, a new human thermal physiological model, Sakoi's model (Sakoi et al. 2005a, 2006a), was developed with a three-dimensional body configuration similar to Smith's model and a thermo-regulatory mechanism by Yokoyama (1993). In this paper, Sakoi's model is coupled in the simulation of convection, radiation, and moisture transport to calculate the total (sensible and latent) heat transfer from a seated human body in uniform and front-back asymmetric radiant environments, which were introduced in the previous paper (Zhu et al. 2007). The comparison to the corresponding results of the subject experiments and the coupled simulation using Smith's model in terms of skin temperatures indicates that the prediction accuracy of the numerical simulation is greatly improved as a whole, especially at the limbs; however, it deteriorates around the face and body parts facing cold panels when using Sakoi's model.