Field Study on Adaptive Thermal Comfort in Coastal Building in China

Different from inland areas, coastal areas are usually characterized by greater wind speed, relative humidity, and solar radiation levels. The indoor thermal environment of coastal buildings attracts more attention as a result. A field investigation on winter indoor thermal condition and thermal comfort was conducted in coastal buildings in Haikou, China. The average indoor air temperature was 21.05 +/- 2.77 degrees C during the survey period. And 65.2% of temperature datasets were within winter comfort band in American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 55 Standard. The influences of relative humidity and air speed were insignificant. The thermal neutral temperature and acceptable temperature band for 90% of participants were 22.97 degrees C and 19.84-26.10 degrees C, respectively. Subjects would like a warmer thermal environment in winter with preferred temperature of 25.44 degrees C. It indicates that thermal neutrality sometimes deviates from desired thermal environment. Adjusting clothes was observed to be a predominant adaptive action, helping subjects adapt to the variations in ambient thermal environment. In addition, the comprehensive impacts of adaptations on thermal comfort were also validated by applying cross analysis between thermal acceptability and Actual Mean Vote, thermal preference. The results obtained in present study provide reference on indoor thermal environment optimization for coastal buildings in tropical island region.