Modeling Occupant Window Behavior in Hospitals—A Case Study in a Maternity Hospital in Beijing, China

Abstract

Nowadays, relevant data collected from hospital buildings remain insufficient because hospital buildings often have stricter environmental requirements resulting in more limited data access than other building types. Additionally, existing window-opening behavior models were mostly developed and validated using data measured from the experimental building itself. Hence, their accuracy is only assessed by the algorithm’s evaluation index, which limits the model’s applicability, given that it is not tested by the actual cases nor cross-verified with other buildings. Based on the aforementioned issues, this study analyzes the window-opening behavior of doctors and patients in spring in a maternity hospital in Beijing and develops behavioral models using logistic regression. The results show that the room often has opened windows in spring when the outdoor temperature exceeds 20 °C. Moreover, the ward windows’ use frequency is more than 10 times higher than those of doctors’ office. The window-opening behavior in wards is more susceptible to the influence of outdoor temperature, while in the doctors’ office, more attention is paid to indoor air quality. Finally, by embedding the logistic regression model of each room into the EnergyPlus software to simulate the CO2 concentration of the room, it was found that the model has better applicability than the fixed schedule model. However, by performing cross-validation with different building types, it was found that, due to the particularity of doctors’ offices, the models developed for other building types cannot accurately reproduce the window-opening behavior of doctors. Therefore, more data are still needed to better understand window usage in hospital buildings and support the future building performance simulations of hospital buildings.