For the purpose to obtain knowledge about the behavior of fire plume within vertical shaft, a series of full-scale experiments was carried out. In these experiments, data about distribution of temperature, gas (CO₂) concentration and pressure within vertical shaft etc. could be obtained. As a result of this study, the temperature within vertical shaft decreased as measurement point of temperature became higher from bottom of vertical shaft owing to heat loss to the wall. Then mass flow rate increased as condition floor became higher. Based on correlation between the non-dimensional temperature ΔT_s,F / T_∞ and non-dimensional heat release rate Qz_F^*, simple formula for predicting temperature distribution within vertical shaft was proposed.

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A series of heating tests using a intermediate size furnace was carried out to comprehend charring behavior and temperature distribution in timber elements under various fire temperature conditions. In this study, glue-laminated timber panels of Japanese cedar or Douglas fir were used as specimens. The dimension of the specimens was 480 mm high, 480 mm wide and 100 mm thick. The height and width of the specimens were intermediate scale but the thickness was sufficient to reproduce full scale timber elements. Fire severities defined by fire temperature rise coefficient α and fire duration were main experimental parameters in this study. As the results of the heating tests, it became obvious that charring rates of timber elements under severe fire temperature by α = 690 were two times higher than that of standard fire exposure by α = 460. Charring rates under low fire temperature by α = 230 were about half of the nominal charring rate. A formula derived from heat conduction equation of semi-infinite solid was adequate to calculate temperature distribution in un-charred timber wood.

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Steel structures have merits such as light weight and short period of construction. Aiming at realization of such a steel floor, scaled model test and full-scale test have been carried out in order to evaluate the impact sound insulation performance of steel floor using flat and corrugated plates. Test results indicate, 1) the correction of sound level of steel floor in scale model test is effective by following the difference of impact force characteristics between scaled model test and full-scale test, 2) steel floor made of flat and corrugate plates tends to have anisotropy in bending stiffness and sound insulation performance of the floor can be improved by increasing the bending stiffness around weak axis, for example by narrowing the width of flange of corrugated steel plate, and 3) local vibration of lower flat plate may worsen the insulation performance of steel floor but its frequency can be designed in the higher range so that the decreasing of sound level is relatively easier.

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Color simulation of seven streetscapes containing five target buildings were executed. Sixty subjects selected colors of five different buildings on each made eighty-four color simulated streetscapes. The ratings of the preference of these streetscape images by twenty-six subjects showed slightly higher averages for regulated conditions, but the rating distributions were wide not to mention the validity.

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In our previous study, we proposed two indexes for the brightness and activity impressions for outdoor lighting environments in the night-time using street images. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of these indexes using a scaled street model. Subjects evaluated the psychological impressions, brightness, activity, anxiety, harmony, comfort and preference. Based on the results, the median value of the road surface luminance highly correlates with brightness impression. It is also shown that the activity impression could be predicted based on the median value of the road surface luminance and the number of locally bright area. We validate two indexes of brightness and activity impressions.

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Recently, residences are becoming more insulated and airtight for energy saving action. In such residences, floor heating (radiative system) and air conditioner (convective system) have become widely used. So the thermal comfort in rooms heated by floor heating or air conditioner was compared by the thermal manikin. The experiment for the thermal manikin was performed in the artificial climate chamber. When sensible heat loss became thermal neutrality, the thermal comfort in rooms heated by floor heating or air conditioner was compared by air temperature. In the result, for all conditions air temperature by floor heating was lower than that by air conditioner.

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An opening of a building significantly affect a heating and cooling load and indoor comfort. The authors developed more precise theories analyzing optical properties of an inner installed venetian blind by introducing Radiance and behavior of the air flow by using CFD. And the theories were compared with experimental values. As a result, the calculated value is well according to experimental value. These theories were incorporated into a heat load calculation program LESCOM developed by the authors. Annual load calculations were executed by a venetian blind angle controlled every one minute.

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In this study, in order to establish a method to decide a learning period efficiently for precision hourly heat and power load prediction by neural network. First, the author suggested the index of the "Accordance Ratio" showing the ratio that explanation variable accorded training data and predicted the prediction precision became highest at the learning period when the index became highest. Second, the effectiveness of the index was inspected by carrying out the prediction at the actual office building in several learning periods and analysis the relation among the index, prediction precision and learning period.

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This study was conducted to investigate the effects of installing well-insulated windows on the residential indoor thermal environment and the thermal comfort and health of occupants. We conducted measurement of thermal environments, occupant questionnaire about thermal comfort and surveys on physical activities of the elderly, before and after inner windows were added to inhabited houses. The survey was carried out for eight old wooden houses with elderly occupants in Yamagata City and surrounding areas. The results of our measurement and survey revealed that window renovation reduced the impact of cold outdoor air temperature on indoor thermal environment and improved thermal comfort in winter. Further, steps per day of the elderly significantly increased after renovation.

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This study examined influential factors towards occupants' window opening/air conditioner using behavior in the different situations in daily life through internet questionnaires surveys which were carried out in Kansai region in the summer of 2013 during 3 separate periods: mid-summer, late-summer and autumn. Object families filled out questionnaires about behavior towards opening windows/using air conditioners in a living room and master bedroom in 6 situations in daily life. Also, they answered questionnaires about family characteristics, house building features, dwelling environment and regional situations. The results suggested that the factors and its influence towards occupants' behavior could differ from situations in daily life.

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A pedestrian tracking system based on high accurate laser scanners is an effective method for understanding the usage of facility-spaces. However, it is difficult to apply them to the practical workplace, since horizontal laser scanners cannot detect workers while they are siting. In this paper, a method for estimating sitting-and-moving behavior and face-to-face communication of workers was proposed by utilizing the concept involving behavior tags to trajectory data. By applying the proposed method to the observation data taken from office-workers behavior survey, we demonstrated the usefulness of the proposed models.

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