Assessment of Indoor Thermal Conditions in a Cinema Room Using CFD Simulation: A Case Study

Abstract

This work aims to characterize the experience lived by a user of a movie theater in the dimension related to the thermal environment. An exhaustive survey of information was made in order to allow the characterization of a set of variables that can affect the user experience in this type of contexts. The collection of information included: a checklist for characterization of space and its use; the experimental measurement of the variables related to the thermal environment and the calculation of thermal comfort indexes and a subjective analysis of the thermal comfort of the users of the space, result of the implementation of two questionnaires to analyze the perception of the users against the conditions of a movie theater. Furthermore, the space was modeled using ANSYS software, which allowed the subsequent simulation of the flow inside the Cinema in order to also study the thermal comfort. In order to obtain solid bases for a better understanding of the parameters that affect the well-being of the user, the values obtained with the calculation of the thermal comfort indexes and the experimental measurements were compared with those referenced in ISO 7330:2005, the values that resulted from the subjective evaluation and with the results obtained with the CFD simulation. Both results provided a prediction of thermal comfort near thermal neutrality, though with a small difference of 0.6 points in the thermal sensation scale. The simulation provided further insight of the localized thermal environment and about the influence of people’s presence.