Evaluation of Thermal Comfort Using Dynamic Simulation: A Case Study of a Kindergarten Classroom in the Czech Republic

This article assesses the indoor environment and thermal comfort in a kindergarten. It is a case study involving experimental measurements and a simulation analysis. During the winter period, experimental measurements were conducted in one of the kindergarten classrooms, collecting data such as indoor air temperature, relative humidity, and carbon dioxide concentration. Based on these data and operational records of the classroom during the measurement period, a model was developed in the DesignBuilder software. This model was utilized to perform an energy simulation followed by a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation. The model was calibrated to closely match the measured data. The output is a qualitative spatial distribution of thermal comfort parameters. The simulations and experiments conducted reveal an unfavourable indoor environment in terms of the thermal comfort and may serve as a basis for designing a more suitable method of room ventilation.