Abstract
Laboratory experiments were performed in a climate simulator, in which temperature, humidity, wind and insolation can be controlled, to investigate human physiological response and thermal comfort. The experimental results show that 1) variation of metabolic ratio with meteorological conditions can be ignorabie, 2) sensible heat from body make much effect to decrease skin temperature, and 3) thermal situation of human body is unsteady. Based on these experimental results, Virtual Thermal Load is proposed as a new thermal sensation index for outdoor human environment. The only one physiological parameter ‘β’ is formulated as a function of VTL. VTL agrees very well with thermal sensation.
