Dissertation committee:
Γ. Θεοχαράτος Αναπλ. Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ (επιβλέπων), Δ. Ασημακόπουλος Καθηγητής ΕΚΠΑ, Ε. Φλόκα Επίκ. Καθηγήτρια ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
The current thesis deals with the study of heat balance in the human body and
thermal comfort in a warm outdoor environment, changing the degree of
adaptation, the exposure to direct radiation field and the activity level for
different air temperatures. The study for selected individual subjects in the
field was based on a) continuous recording of thermophysiological parameters,
b) simulations of heat fluxes between human body and the thermal environment
and c) simulations of thermophysiological indices. Finally, the potential
impact of a gaseous pollutant such as ozone in terms of heat balance equation
in human body through the acute changes in physiological parameters was
investigated. Studying the thermophysiological parameters was found that the
assumption of constant metabolic heat production due to standard activity do
not coincide with actual practice and accomplish in order to simplify the
calculations. Moreover, the discrepancy between experimental and theoretical
mean skin temperature revealed the inability of the model to determine it
through an empirical equation, especially for non-acclimatized organisms.
Moreover, the simulation of heat fluxes according to the experimental
measurements of mean skin temperature and metabolic heat production showed that
even for standard activity in the same thermal environment, heat gains or
losses by radiation, convection, evaporation and respiration can differ between
healthy individuals as well as between experimental phases.
Keywords:
Thermal comfort, Heat balance equation, Heat stress, Heat fluxes from and to the human body, Biometeorology
