Thermal Comfort Study of a Classroom in Northern Malaysia: A CFD Approach

Abstract

Abstract A conducive environment is essential in creating an ideal condition for the impartment of knowledge. One of the essential parts of such a conducive environment is to have a thermally comfortable condition. A study was conducted to assess the thermal comfort in one of the classrooms of a university located in the northern most part of Malaysia. The particular classroom was randomly chosen from a total of 4 classrooms of the same size and condition. Measurements of the dimensions of the room together with temperature and velocity were taken to make the computational model and as boundary conditions for the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. The simulation was conducted to visualize and predict the temperature distribution and flow pattern inside the classroom. The results of the simulation showed that there exists a non-uniform circulation of cold air from the air-conditioning outlet to the rest of the classroom. The distribution of the cold air seems to be limited to only the location under the air-conditioning outlet making it thermally uncomfortable there. Hence, it is recommended to either reduce the airflow velocity coming out of the air-conditioning outlet or change the size or location of the air-conditioning outlets.