A model of human physiology and comfort for assessing complex thermal environments

The Berkeley Comfort Model is based on the Stolwijk model of human thermal regulation but includes several significant improvements. Our new model allows an unlimited body segments (compared to six in the Stolwijk model). Each segment is modeled as four body layers (core, muscle, fat, and skin tissues) and a clothing layer. Physiological mechanisms such as vasodilation, vasoconstriction, sweating, and metabolic heat production are explicitly considered. Convection, conduction (such as to a car seat or other surface in contact with any part of the body) and radiation between the body and the environment are treated independently. The model is capable of predicting human physiological response to transient, non-uniform thermal environments. This paper describes the physiological algorithms as well as the implementation of the model.