Simulating the dynamics of occupant behaviour for thermal comfort in social housing

Abstract

The way occupants adapt in an environmental setting directly affects their perceived thermal comfort. This study examines the variation in thermal comfort perception due to the diversified occupant behaviour. The self-reported occupant behaviour patterns within the social housing were clustered into three groups based on the newly developed index, Adaptive Behaviour Index. A dynamic building simulation approach was then employed to investigate the difference in thermal comfort using "Annual ComfortHours" as the quantifying metric. The results revealed that Annual Comfort Hours for "active" and "passive" occupants were 247% and 180% higher than that of the "indifferent" occupants respectively. This study recognises the role of multifaceted occupant behaviour in developing better models of adaptive thermal comfort.