Impact of building structure and operation on the operative temperature determination based on air and mean radiant temperatures

Quality of indoor thermal environment evaluation is often based on measurements of only air temperature with assumption of equality of air temperature and operative temperature. The impact of several building features such as construction of building envelope, glazing size as well as building operation including occupancy and heat source presence patterns on differences between air and operative temperature was investigated. Analysis were based on simulation results of an office model in a building located in cold climate. Simulations were performed with IDA Indoor Climate and Energy (IDA ICE) software. Present paper discusses the importance of mean radiant temperature for a proper determination of operative temperature and for evaluation of thermal environment quality category.