Experimental investigation into the interaction between the human body and room airflow and its effect on thermal comfort under stratum ventilation

Room occupants' comfort and health are affected by the airflow. Nevertheless, they themselves also play an important role in indoor air distribution. This study investigated the interaction between the human body and room airflow under stratum ventilation. Simplified thermal manikin was employed to effectively resemble the human body as a flow obstacle and/or free convective heat source. Unheated and heated manikins were designed to fully evaluate the impact of the manikin at various airflow rates. Additionally, subjective human tests were conducted to evaluate thermal comfort for the occupants in two rows. The findings show that the manikin formed a local blockage effect, but the supply airflow could flow over it. With the body heat from the manikin, the air jet penetrated farther compared with that for the unheated manikin. The temperature downstream of the manikin was also higher because of the convective effect. Elevating the supply airflow rate from 7 to 15 air changes per hour varied the downstream airflow pattern dramatically, from an uprising flow induced by body heat to a jet-dominated flow. Subjective assessments indicated that stratum ventilation provided thermal comfort for the occupants in both rows. Therefore, stratum ventilation could be applied in rooms with occupants in multiple rows.