Simulation of human thermal responses in a confined space

Latest human thermal comfort models, such as the IESD-Fiala model, are active multi-nodal thermal models that simulate physiological regulatory responses, e.g. changing metabolic rate and skin blood flow, shivering and sweating. Commercial CFD packages, such as ANSYS CFX, are widely used in studying transient thermal environment. The purpose of this study is to develop and demonstrate the method for integrating human thermal comfort models with the CFD environment for detailed transient simulations. Different integration strategies are discussed in this paper, as well as the technical problems with using detailed (clothed) 3-D model in the coupled simulation. It is highlighted that further research is required to exploit the full potential of the integrated model in environmental design.