Influence of thermal and lighting factors on human perception and work performance in simulated underground environment

The utilization of underground working space in the rapidly developing global economy has broadened the scope of human activities. However, it has also brought new challenges to existing environmental construction strategies. The comfort and performance of the people inside a building are influenced by multiple factors. This study investigates the main factors affecting personnel perception and work performance, such as humidity, heat, and light, to guide the construction of underground working environments. Therefore, an experiment was designed and carried out in an artificial climate chamber to explore the differences in subjective evaluation, physiological parameters, and working performance of personnel under different thermal and lighting environments. The results show that air temperature has a significant effect on most subjective and objective parameters, while lighting has a weak effect. Air temperature and illumination are the two main environmental factors that affect comfort. Regression analysis shows that the recommended air temperature and illumination ranges are 22.0–27.3 °C and 545–1000 lx, respectively. This study also found that the interaction between color temperature and air temperature had significant effects on several evaluation parameters. • There are few studies on the human comfort and work performance of underground workspaces. • Air temperature and illumination are the two most important factors. • The interaction between color temperature and air temperature is significant for several evaluation parameters. • The recommended air temperature and illumination ranges are 22.0–27.3 °C and 545–1000 lx, respectively.