While semi-active suspensions help improve the ride comfort and road holding capacity of the vehicle, they tend to be reactive in nature and thus leave a lot of room for improvement. Incorporating road preview data allows these suspensions to become more proactive rather than reactive and helps achieve a higher level of performance. A lot of preview-based control algorithms in literature tend to require high computational effort to arrive at the optimal parameters thus making it difficult to implement in real time. Other algorithms tend to be based upon lookup tables which classify the road input into different categories and hence lose their effectiveness when mixed types of road profiles are encountered that are difficult to classify. Thus a novel control algorithm is developed which is easy to implement online and more responsive to the varying road profiles that are encountered by the vehicle. A numerical methods-based semi-active suspension control algorithm and a Model Predictive Control(MPC)-based semi-active suspension control algorithm are developed that can leverage the data from the upcoming road profile to increase the ride comfort of the vehicle. The numerical methods-based algorithm is developed for the sole purpose of determining the maximum possible ride comfort that can be achieved using semi-active dampers capable of altering their damping characteristics every 0.01 seconds. The MPC-based algorithm is a more realistic algorithm that can be implemented in real-time and achieves on average 70% of the ride comfort that the numerical methods-based algorithm can with minimal computational effort. / Master of Science / Semi-active suspensions help cars ride more smoothly and handle better on the road. However, they often react to bumps and potholes only after hitting them, which means there's room for improvement. By using information about the road ahead, these suspensions can adjust before reaching rough spots, making the ride even better. To make this work, a new control system was developed. This system includes two parts. The first part uses detailed calculations to find the best possible comfort level, adjusting the suspension every 0.01 seconds. This method shows the highest comfort that can be achieved but is too complex for everyday use. The second part uses a simpler method called Model Predictive Control (MPC). This part is practical for real-time driving and achieves about 70% of the best possible comfort. It doesn't need as much computing power and can quickly adapt to different road conditions, making it ideal for normal driving. This new system improves driving comfort and safety by making suspensions smarter and more efficient.

An ergonomic driver workspace and interface design is essential to ensure a healthier and comfortable driving experience in terms of driver perceptions, postures, and interface pressures. Developing more effective methods for driver-side interior design and evaluation, hence, requires thorough investigation of: 1) which perceptual responses are more relevant to ensuring ergonomic quality of a design, 2) the interrelationships among perceptual responses and objective measures, and 3) whether current assumptions regarding driver behaviors, and tools for specifying these behaviors, are valid for the design and evaluation. Existing studies, however, have rarely addressed these topics comprehensively, and often have been conducted with unsubstantiated assumptions. In contrast, this work sought to address these topics in a way that jointly considers characteristics of driver perceptions, behaviors, and objective measures to develop an improved design and evaluation methodology for driver workspace and interface, and that can also investigate the validity of implicit assumptions regarding perceptual relevance and drivers' behaviors. The first part of this work investigated drivers' perceptions in relation to driver workspace design and evaluation. Specifically, it examined the efficacy of several perceptual ratings, when used for evaluating automobile interface design. Results showed that comfort ratings were more effective at distinguishing among interface designs, in contrast to the current common practice of using discomfort ratings for designing and evaluating interface designs. Two distinct decision processes to relate local to global perceptions were also identified (i.e., global comfort as an average of local comforts, and global discomfort predominantly influenced by maximal local discomforts). These findings were observed consistently across age and cultural groups. In addition, this work provided empirical support for an earlier hypothetical comfort/discomfort model, which posited comfort and discomfort are complementary, yet independent entities. In order to facilitate the integration of driver perceptions and dynamic behaviors into driver workspace design and evaluation, the second part of this work clarified the relationships between perceptual ratings and various types of driver-seat interface pressure. Interface pressure was found to be more strongly related to overall and comfort ratings than to discomfort ratings, which is also in marked contrast with existing work that has focused on identifying association between discomfort and interface pressure. Specific pressure interface requirements for comfortable driver workspace design and evaluation were also provided. Lastly, this work specified more rigorous driving postures for digital human models (DHMs), based on actual drivers' perceptions, postural sensitivity, and static behavioral characteristics, to facilitate proactive design and evaluation that enables cost/time efficient vehicle development. Drivers' behavioral characteristics observed in this work were applied to the driver workspace design. First, postural sensitivity obtained by using a psychophysics concept has been applied to determination of core seat track ranges. Second, postural data have been used: 1) to review relevant industry standards on driver accommodation, 2) to investigate whether driving postures are bilaterally asymmetric, 3) to provide comfortable joint ranges, and lastly 4) to identify drivers' postural strategies for interacting with a vehicle. Overall, this work identified three important behavioral characteristics, specifically a bilateral imbalance in terms of interface pressure, bilaterally asymmetric joint posture, and postural strategies identified by cluster analysis. Such characteristics can be embedded in DHMs to describe more accurately actual driver behaviors inside a driver workspace, which is deemed to be a fundamental step to improved virtual ergonomic vehicle design and evaluation. In addition, the strategy-based classification method used in this work can be extended to simulate and predict more complex human motions. Practical and fundamental findings of this work will facilitate efficient and proactive design and evaluation of driver workspace and interface, and will help provide a healthier driving experience for a broader range of individuals. / Ph. D.

Light and architectural design are inseparable. Light plays a significant role in the perception of the place. One of the main reasons a good number of today's buildings are unsuccessful regarding visual conditions and comfort is because they are only focused on function and structure without considering the quality of the place. Design for spaces often does not fully consider the setting where the building is placed. This connection with the surrounding environment can turn the space into a place where an occupant feels his existence and sense of dwelling while being at peace. Daylight is one aspect that can enhance the sense of place and influence the personal interpretations and impressions that last long after leaving the place. Today, architects are being asked to consider low-energy design with daylighting in their designs. In response to this, there is growing interest in the study of visually disturbing effects such as glare and poor visual comfort that can adversely impact the sense of dwelling. While several studies on visual comfort have been conducted, very little research addressed movement through space and the time-dependency of daylighting. Concern for daylight control is needed in buildings especially museums and art galleries because of their exhibits' sensitivity to light. To address the dynamic daylight conditions, this research proposes a framework for an innovative approach to improving design decision-making by evaluating visual comfort during the early stages of design, which can alter the design process. A framework-based prototype has been designed for this research that uses Grasshopper and its sub-components to interface with Radiance and Daysim. In addition to quantitative outputs, special re-representation is used for qualitative analysis to support design decision-making. Through logical argumentation, prototyping, immersive case study, and member impressions via a Delphi panel, an interpretive approach is used to demonstrate the enhancement in design decision-making that occurs when one considers dynamic daylighting. The research outcomes are expected to provide researchers, designers, and decision makers with a new approach to designing and re-imagining spaces to improve visual comfort and the quality of the place. / Ph. D.

Advances in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) paved the way for decentralized Heating, Ventilation, and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) HVAC operations. It has been envisioned that development of personal thermal comfort profiles leads to accurate predictions of each occupant's thermal comfort state and such information is employed in context-aware HVAC operations for energy efficiency. This dissertation has three key contributions in realizing this envisioned HVAC operation. First, it presents a systematic review of research trends and developments in context-aware HVAC operations. Second, it contributes to expanding the feasibility of the envisioned HVAC operation by introducing novel sensing technologies. Third, it contributes to shedding light on viability and potentials of comfort-aware operations (i.e., integrating personal thermal comfort models into HVAC control logic) through a comprehensive assessment of energy efficiency implications. In the first contribution, by developing a taxonomy, two major modalities – occupancy-driven and comfort-aware operations – in Human-In-The-Loop (HITL) HVAC operations were identified and reviewed quantitatively and qualitatively. The synthesis of previous studies has indicated that field evaluations of occupancy-driven operations showed lower potentials in energy saving, compared to the ones with comfort-aware operations. However, the results in comfort-aware operations could be biased given the small number of explorations. Moreover, required data representation schema have been presented to foster constructive performance assessments across different research efforts. In the end, the current state of research and future directions of HITL HVAC operations were discussed to shed light on future research need. As the second contribution, moving toward expanding the feasibility of comfort-aware operations, novel and smart sensing solutions have been introduced. It has been noted that, in order to have high accuracy in predicting individual's thermal comfort state (≥90%), user physiological response data play a key part. However, the limited number of applicable sensing technologies (e.g., infrared cameras) has impeded the potentials of implementation. After defining required characteristics in physiological sensing solutions in context of comfort-aware operations (applicability, sensitivity, ubiquity, and non-intrusiveness), the potentials of RGB cameras, Doppler radar sensors, and heat flux sensors were evaluated. RGB cameras, available in many smart computing devices, could be a ubiquitous solution in quantifying thermoregulation states. Leveraging the mechanism of skin blood perfusion, two thermoregulation state quantification methods have been developed. Then, applicability and sensitivity were checked with two experimental studies. In the first experimental study aiming to see applicability (distinguishing between 20 and 30C with fully acclimated human bodies), for 16 out of 18 human subjects, an increase in their blood perfusion was observed. In the second experimental study aiming to evaluate sensitivity (distinguishing responses to a continuous variation of air temperature from 20 to 30C), 10 out of 15 subjects showed a positive correlation between blood perfusion and thermal sensations. Also, the superiority of heat flux data, compared to skin temperature data, has been demonstrated in predicting personal thermal comfort states through the developments of machine-learning-based prediction models with feature engineering. Specifically, with random forest classifier, the median value of prediction accuracy was improved by 3.8%. Lastly, Doppler radar sensors were evaluated for their capability of quantifying user thermoregulation states leveraging the periodic movement of the chest/abdomen area induced by respiration. In an experimental study, the results showed that, with sufficient acclimation time, the DRS-based approach could show distinction between respiration states for two distinct air temperatures (20 and 30C). On the other hand, in a transient temperature without acclimation time, it was shown that, some of the human subjects (38.9%) used respiration as an active means of heat exchange for thermoregulation. Lastly, a comprehensive evaluation of comfort-aware operations' performance was carried out with a diverse set of contextual and operational factors. First, a novel comfort-aware operation strategy was introduced to leverage personal sensitivity to thermal comfort (i.e., different responses to temperature changes; e.g., sensitive to being cold) in optimization. By developing an agent-based simulation framework and thorough diverse scenarios with different numbers and combinations of occupants (i.e., human agents in the simulation), it was shown that this approach is superior in generating collectively satisfying environments against other approaches focusing on individual preferred temperatures in selection of optimized setpoints. The energy implications of comfort-aware operations were also evaluated to understand the impact from a wide range of factors (e.g., human and building factors) and their combinatorial effect given the uncertainty of multioccupancy scenarios. The results demonstrated that characteristics of occupants' thermal comfort profiles are dominant in impacting the energy use patterns, followed by the number of occupants, and the operational strategies. In addition, when it comes to energy efficiency, more occupants in a thermal zone/building result in reducing the efficacy of comfort-driven operation (i.e., the integration of personal thermal comfort profiles). Hence, this study provided a better understanding of true viability of comfort-driven HVAC operations and provided the probabilistic bounds of energy saving potentials. These series of studies have been presented as seven journal articles and they are included in this dissertation. / Doctor of Philosophy / With vision of a smart built environment, capable of understanding the contextual dynamics of built environment and adaptively adjusting its operation, this dissertation contributes to context-aware/decentralized HVAC operations. Three key contributions in realization of this goal include: (1) a systematic review of research trends and developments in the last decade, (2) enhancing the feasibility of quantifying personal thermal comfort by presenting novel sensing solutions, and (3) a comprehensive assessment of energy efficiency implications from comfort-aware HVAC operations with the use of personal comfort models. Starting from identifying two major modalities of context-aware HVAC operations, occupancy-driven and comfort-aware, the first part of this dissertation presents a quantitative and qualitative review and synthesis of the developments, trends, and remaining research questions in each modality. Field evaluation studies using occupancy-driven operations have shown median energy savings between 6% and 15% depending on the control approach. On the other hand, the comfort-aware HVAC operations have shown 20% energy savings, which were mainly derived from small-scale test beds in similar climate regions. From a qualitative technology development standpoint, the maturity of occupancy-driven technologies for field deployment could be interpreted to be higher than comfort-aware technologies while the latter has shown higher potentials. Moreover, by learning from the need for comparing different methods of operations, required data schemas have been proposed to foster better benchmarking and effective performance assessment across studies. The second part of this dissertation contributes to the cornerstone of comfort-aware operations by introducing novel physiological sensing solutions. Previous studies demonstrated that, in predicting individual's thermal comfort states, using physiological data in model development plays a key role in increasing accuracy (>90%). However, available sensing technologies in this context have been limited. Hence, after identifying essential characteristics for sensing solutions (applicability, sensitivity, ubiquity, and non-intrusiveness), the potentials of RGB cameras, heat flux sensors, and Doppler radar sensors were evaluated. RGB cameras, available in many smart devices, could be programmed to measure the level of blood flow to skin, regulated by the human thermoregulation mechanism. Accordingly, two thermoregulation states' quantification methods by using RGB video images have been developed and assessed under two experimental studies: (i) capturing subjects' facial videos in two opposite temperatures with sufficient acclimation time (20 and 30C), and (ii) capturing facial videos when subjects changed their thermal sensations in a continuous variation of air temperature from 20 to 30C. Promising results were observed in both situations. The first study had subjects and 16 of them showed an increasing trend in blood flow to skin. In the second study, posing more challenges due to insufficient acclimation time, 10 subjects had a positive correlation between the level of blood flow to skin with thermal sensation. With the assumption that heat flux sensing will be a better reflection of thermoregulation sates, a machine learning framework was developed and tested. The use of heat flux sensing showed an accuracy of 97% with an almost 4% improvement compared to skin temperature. Lastly, Doppler radar sensors were evaluated for their capability of quantifying thermoregulation states by detecting changes in breathing patterns. In an experimental study, the results showed that, with sufficient acclimation time, the DRS-based approach could show distinction between respiration states for two distinct air temperatures (20 and 30C). However, using a transient temperature was proven to be more challenging. It was noted that for some of the human subjects (38.9%), respiration was detected as an active means of heat exchange. It was concluded that specialized artifact removal algorithms might help improve the detection rate. The third component of the dissertation contributed by studying the performance of comfort-driven operations (i.e., using personal comfort preferences for HVAC operations) under a diverse set of contextual and operational factors. Diverse scenarios for interaction between occupants and building systems were evaluated by using different numbers and combinations of occupants, and it was demonstrated that an approach of addressing individual's thermal comfort sensitivity (personal thermal-comfort-related responses to temperature changes) outperforms other approaches solely focusing on individual preferred temperatures. The energy efficiency implications of comfort-driven operations were then evaluated by accounting for the impact of human and building factors (e.g., number of thermal zones) and their combinations. The results showed that characteristics of occupants' thermal comfort profiles are dominant in driving the energy use patterns, followed by the number of occupants, and operational strategies. As one of the main outcomes of this study, the energy saving and efficiency (energy use for comfort improvement) potentials and probabilistic bounds of comfort-driven operations were identified. It was shown that keeping the number of occupants low (under 6) in a thermal zone/building, boosts the energy saving potentials of comfort-driven operations. These series of studies have been presented as seven journal articles, included in this dissertation.

Directional airflow has been utilized to enable targeted air conditioning in cars and airplanes for many years, where the occupants could adjust the direction of flow. In the building sector however, HVAC systems are usually equipped with stationary diffusors that can only supply the air either in the form of diffusion or with fixed direction to the room in which they have been installed. In the present thesis, the possibility of adopting directional airflow in lieu of the conventional uniform diffusors has been investigated. The potential benefits of such a modification in control capabilities of the HVAC system in terms of improvements in the overall occupant thermal comfort and energy consumption of the HVAC system have been investigated via a simulation study and an experimental study. In the simulation study, an average of 59% per cycle reduction was achieved in the energy consumption. The reduction in the required duration of airflow (proportional to energy consumption) in the experimental study was 64% per cycle. The feasibility of autonomous control of the directional airflow, has been studied in a simulation experiment by utilizing the Reinforcement Learning algorithm which is an artificial intelligence approach that facilitates autonomous control in unknown environments. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of enabling the existing HVAC systems to control the direction of airflow, a device (called active diffusor) was designed and prototyped. The active diffusor successfully replaced the existing uniform diffusor and was able to effectively target the occupant positions by accurately directing the airflow jet to the desired positions. / M.S. / The notion of adjustable direction of airflow has been used in the car industry and airplanes for decades, enabling the users to manually adjust the direction of airflow to their satisfaction. However, in the building the introduction of the incoming airflow to the environment of the room is achieved either by non-adjustable uniform diffusors, aiming to condition the air in the environment in a homogeneous manner. In the present thesis, the possibility of adopting directional airflow in place of the conventional uniform diffusors has been investigated. The potential benefits of such a modification in control capabilities of the HVAC system in terms of improvements in the overall occupant thermal comfort and energy consumption of the HVAC system have been investigated via a simulation study and an experimental study. In the simulation study, an average of 59% per cycle reduction was achieved in the energy consumption. The reduction in the required duration of airflow (proportional to energy consumption) in the experimental study was 64% per cycle on average. The feasibility of autonomous control of the directional airflow, has been studied in a simulation experiment by utilizing the Reinforcement Learning algorithm which is an artificial intelligence approach that facilitates autonomous control in unknown environments. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of enabling the existing HVAC systems to control the direction of airflow, a device (called active diffusor) was designed and prototyped. The active diffusor successfully replaced the existing uniform diffusor and was able to effectively target the occupant positions by accurately directing the airflow jet to the desired positions.

Climate change, uncertainties in energy prices, and the Covid-19 pandemic have significantly reshaped building management, highlighting the need for energy-efficient, safe, and comfortable indoor environments. With advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) sensors and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques, optimising building performance now includes forecasting key parameters and intelligently controlling Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. However, existing studies often lack practical applicability in real-world scenarios, typically relying on extensive data collection or tailored physical/mathematical models, with limited focus on deployment, scalability, and long-term performance. This thesis addresses the problem from a different angle, proposing an adaptive and practical AI-based solution for energy-efficient comfort optimisation in indoor environments. The designed approach continuously learns from the monitored environment through collected data and requires minimal human effort for configuration and maintenance. The contributions are as follows: i) a method for accurately predicting key parameters using a limited window of data, with a dynamic mechanism to keep the AI model current with environmental changes and operational in a short time frame, and ii) a novel algorithm called EECO for automated and intelligent HVAC control, driven by continuous short-term decisions based on long-term predictions to balance thermal comfort and energy consumption, with no need for preliminary knowledge of the local environment. Evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves high prediction accuracy, ensures desired thermal comfort, and reduces the energy footprint by up to approximately 16% in a real-world environment, in addition to potentially saving on operating costs.

O Colégio de Aplicação Pedagógica da Universidade Estadual de Maringá (CAP/UEM) fazia parte de um projeto de âmbito nacional criado na década de 1990, os Centros de Atenção Integral à Criança e ao Adolescente - CAIC´s. O projeto inicial é de autoria do arquiteto João Filgueiras Lima, Lelé, reconhecido pela preocupação com o conforto ambiental dos usuários em suas obras. Em geral, sabe-se que os alunos têm uma melhor qualidade no aprendizado quando os espaços estão bem ventilados, iluminados e silenciosos. Sendo assim, este trabalho tem como objetivo avaliar o conforto térmico no edifício do CAP/UEM verificando o desempenho das estratégias passivas para proporcionar conforto térmico, a sensação térmica dos usuários e aferindo o desempenho de uma estratégia, sugerida pelo arquiteto Lelé em entrevista a autora, para melhoria do comportamento térmico da cobertura. A metodologia proposta consiste, inicialmente, em um levantamento de dados que se destaca pela entrevista com o arquiteto. Após, foi feita uma análise projetual para a identificação e caracterização das soluções passivas de conforto e a verificação do funcionamento destas no âmbito de projeto. Para verificar a eficiência destas estratégias foi aplicado o método dos Votos Médios Preditos (PMV), que envolve medições das variáveis ambientais concomitantemente com aplicação de questionários aos alunos no período de verão. Além disso, ainda foi avaliado o desempenho térmico da cobertura, através de medições de temperaturas superficiais internas e externas comparadas entre três salas de aula: uma inalterada, outra lavada e a terceira, lavada e pintada de branco, sugestão do arquiteto Lelé para melhorar o desempenho térmico do edifício. Os resultados indicaram que a cobertura do prédio ocasiona grande ganho térmico e insatisfação dos usuários praticamente o tempo todo, prejudicando as condições de conforto no interior do edifício. Esse alto grau de desconforto pode ser explicado pela falta de manutenção e a pouca inércia térmica do sistema, principalmente da cobertura. A pintura do telhado de branco se mostrou eficiente para diminuir o calor que entra pela cobertura, ressaltando a importância da temperatura radiante para promoção das condições de conforto térmico nas salas de aula. / The Pedagogical College of the State University of Maringá (CAP/UEM) was part of a nationwide project created in the 1990s, the Centres for the Integral Care to Children and Adolescents - CAIC\'s. The initial design was concived by the architect João Filgueiras Lima (a.k.a. Lelé), acknowledged for his concern for the environmental comfort of users in his work. In general, it is known that the students have a better quality of learning when the spaces are well chilled, lighted and quiet. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the thermal comfort in the building of the CAP/UEM checking the performance of passive strategies of thermal comfort, thermal sensation of users and verifying the performance of a strategy, suggested by the architect Lelé in an interview for the author, to improve the thermal performance of the roof. The proposed methodology consists, initially, in a collection of the datas that stands out from the interview with the architect. Afterwards, it was made an analysis projectual in order to identify passive solutions to obtain thermal comfort, at the same time, to verify the work system of this project. To check the efficiency of these strategies it was apllied the Predicted Mean Vote Method (PMV), that envolve measurements of environmental variables concurrently with questionnaires applied to students during the summer time. Futher there, it was analized the thermal performance of the roof, throught out indoor and outdoor superficial temperature measurements, compared between three classrooms: one untouchable, another washed and the third one washed and white painted, suggested by the architect Lelé to improve thermal comfort of the building. The results indicate that the roof of the building causes huge thermal gain and unsatisfaction of the users all the time, damaging the comfort conditions within the building. This high level of uncomfortable can be explained by the lack of maintenance and the low thermal inertia of the system, especially the roof. The white paint of the roof has shown efficient to reduce the heating coming throughout the roof, highlighting the importance of radiant temperature for promotion of thermal comfort conditions in classrooms.

O objeto desta pesquisa é o desempenho térmico de edifícios residenciais na cidade de São Paulo, tendo em vista as mudanças climáticas previstas e a maior vulnerabilidade da população idosa. O objetivo é a avaliação de desempenho térmico e de conforto ambiental de edifícios residenciais no cenário RCP 8.5 do Quinto Relatório do IPCC - IPCC AR5 e durante a onda de calor ocorrida em janeiro e fevereiro de 2014. Este trabalho se utiliza de estudos de casos reais e de simulações computacionais. O método é indutivo, por meio de levantamentos de campo, e dedutivo, por meio de comparações entre os resultados das medições e das simulações computacionais; o trabalho apresenta, ao final, estudos preditivos do comportamento térmico e do conforto ambiental dos usuários nos edifícios estudados. Para tanto, foram levantadas e monitoradas seis residências de idosos voluntários, além de uma residência de controle, e foram realizadas simulações com o modelo EDSL/Bentley TAS (Thermal Analysis Software). Para a simulação computacional foram utilizados dados climáticos simulados e medidos. Os dados climáticos simulados foram tratados a partir de dados cedidos pelo Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas/IAG-USP representando os períodos presente (1975 a 2005), futuro próximo (2015 a 2044), futuro intermediário (2045 a 2074) e futuro distante (2076 a 2096). Os dados medidos foram os registrados pela estação meteorológica do IAG-USP, localizada na zona sul de São Paulo, para três períodos distintos: o ano de 2013, quando foram monitoradas as residências, o ano de 1972, selecionado como representativo do período de construção das residências estudadas, e também o ano de 2014, para fins de estudo dos efeitos da onda de calor ocorrida em janeiro e fevereiro desse mesmo ano. Os resultados foram analisados comparativamente entre os diferentes cenários climáticos e também entre as unidades habitacionais estudadas, adotando-se os índices de conforto adaptativo De Dear et al. (1997) / ASHRAE 55 (2013) e Humphreys et al. (2010), considerados os mais adequados para a avaliação térmica da operação em modo passivo no clima local, dentre os índices já existentes. As análises revelaram que, com a progressão dos cenários climáticos futuros, há tendência de alteração na condição de conforto dos usuários com aumento da sensação de calor e redução da sensação de frio, expressos aqui em número de horas e de graus-hora de desconforto. Além disso, sob a ocorrência de ondas de calor, o aumento abrupto e persistente da temperatura do ar tende a tornar as condições de desconforto térmico ainda mais acentuadas. Dentre todos os cenários estudados, e aplicando-se os dois modelos de conforto, foi encontrado um valor médio de aumento da condição de calor de 271%, variando de 83% a 694%, e uma redução média da condição de frio de 51%, variando de 24% a 70%. Os resultados mostram que a conjugação desses dois fenômenos, mudança climática e onda de calor, pode provocar um efeito potencializador para o desconforto térmico por calor, tornando as condições inóspitas para o conforto humano, além de implicar em maior consumo de energia para climatização artificial. / The subject of this research is the residential buildings performance in the city of São Paulo, taking into account the climate changes predicted for the next decades and the greater vulnerability of the elderly related to the environmental conditions. The aim is the evaluation of thermal performance and comfort in residential buildings under the RCP 8.5 scenario from the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report - IPCC AR5, as well as under the heat wave occurred in January and February 2014. This work is based on real case studies and computer simulations. The method is inductive, by field surveys, and deductive, though the comparison between measurements and computer simulation; finally, predictive studies of thermal performance and comfort are presented. For this purpose, six elderly dwellings, besides a control one, were surveyed and monitored, and computer simulations were carried out using EDLS/Bentley TAS (Thermal Analysis Software). For the computer simulations, simulated and measured climate data were employed. The simulated data were treated starting from data provided by the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences/IAG-USP representing the periods present (1975 to2005), near future (2015 to 2044), intermediate future (2045 to 2074 and far future (2076 to 2096). Measured data were recorded by the IAG-USP meteorological station, located in southern São Paulo, for three different periods: 2013, when the residences were monitored; 1972, selected as representative of the buildings\' construction period, and also 2014, to study the January and February heat wave effects. Results were analyzed comparing comfort conditions in the different climate scenarios and also among the case studies, following the adaptive comfort indices De Dear et al. (1997) / ASHRAE 55 (2013) and Humphreys et al. (2010), which were considered the two most appropriate ones, among the existing indexes, for the passive mode operation in the local climate. Analysis revealed a tendency of change in comfort conditions throughout the progression of future climate scenarios, showing an increase in heat sensation and a decrease in cold sensation, which were expressed in number of hours and degree-hours of discomfort. Furthermore, in the occurrence of heat waves, the unexpected and persistent increase in air temperature tends to make thermal discomfort even more pronounced. Among all the studied scenarios, and applying both comfort models, in average, discomfort by heat increased 271%, ranging from 83% to 694%, and discomfort by cold decreased 51%, ranging from 24% to 70%. The results show that the combination of both phenomena, climate change and heat wave, may lead to a potential effect of heat discomfort, making thermal conditions inhospitable for human comfort, besides implying a higher energy consumption for air conditioning.

Nas primeiras décadas do século XX, profissionais da área da saúde investiram em ambientes funcionais de trabalho, dando ênfase à implantação de equipamentos de alta tecnologia, sem se preocuparem com o grau de conforto proporcionado pelo ambiente físico. Trabalhos científicos nesta área classificaram esses espaços como estressantes e inadequados em razão de não observarem as carências emocionais e psicológicas dos usuários. O presente estudo avaliou a melhoria do conforto humano na Irmandade Santa Casa de Valinhos/SP-Brasil, proporcionado pela requalificação de áreas verdes existentes entre as alas de internação. Para avaliar o grau de conforto térmico proporcionado por essas áreas verdes requalificadas, utilizaram-se dois modelos preditivos de conforto: o Predicted Mean Vote - PMV (FANGER, 1970) e o Predicted Percentage of Disatisfied - PPD baseado na ISO 7730 (1994) para ambientes internos. A fim de se compararem os resultados obtidos com base nos modelos preditivos à percepção subjetiva do conforto térmico dos entrevistados, foram aplicados questionários contendo questões abertas e fechadas que possibilitaram uma análise dos benefícios terapêuticos proporcionados pelas áreas verdes requalificadas. Outro instrumento utilizado, o Inventário de Sintomas de Stress de LIPP, avaliou e comparou o nível de stress entre dois grupos de funcionários (com contato e sem contato com áreas verdes). Os resultados deste estudo demonstram que os espaços verdes requalificados, apesar de ainda não interferirem no grau de conforto térmico dos ambientes a eles adjacentes, cumprem um papel terapêutico na medida em que promovem maior bem-estar a todos que deles se usufruem. / In the first decades of the twentieth century, health professionals have invested into functional work environments, emphasizing the insertion of high-tech equipment and not concerned about the comfort provided by the physical environment. Scientific work in this area ranked these spaces as stressful and inappropriate in order not to observe the emotional and psychological necessities the users have. This study has evaluated the improvement of human comfort in Santa Casa de Valinhos / SP-Brazil, provided by the recovery of green areas between the internment wards at the hospital. To evaluate the thermal comfort degree provided by these recovered green areas, we have used two predictive comfort models: Predicted Mean Vote - PMV (FANGER, 1970) and Predicted Percentage of Disatisfied - PPD based on ISO 7730 (1994) for indoor environments. In order to compare the results based on predictive models to the subjective perception of the thermal comfort, questionnaires have been applied with open and closed questions which have allowed an analysis of therapeutic benefits provided by the recovered green areas. The other instrument used was Lipp Stress Symptom Inventory, which evaluated and compared the level of stress among two staff groups (with or without contact to the green areas). The results of this study have demonstrated that the recovered green spaces, while not influencing the thermal comfort degree of adjacent environments, which has a therapeutic role while promoting a greater well-being to all who enjoy them.

Este trabalho tem como objetivo principal requalificar edifícios que permanecem em situação de abandono ou desuso no centro da cidade de São Paulo, alterando o uso original, de comércio e serviço, para habitacional. Isso porque centros urbanos de várias cidades mantém edifícios nessas condições e, em contrapartida, a demanda por moradia é crescente nesses espaços, onde a oferta de trabalho é maior, assim como a facilidade de acesso a transporte público, saneamento básico, serviços de saúde, educação, entre outros. Para isso, foram realizadas análises térmicas e ergonômicas e, a partir desses resultados, propostas modificações nas áreas internas aos espaços escolhidos, a fim de melhorar a autonomia global do edifício. Tais análises se deram por meio de simulação computacional das variantes térmicas e luminosas, tanto para o estado original do edifício quanto para a proposta, fruto de análises ergonômicas, voltadas a atender às novas demandas dos usuários. Através dessas análises, fica explícita a possibilidade de adaptar estes edifícios, que permanecem subutulizados ou em desuso, para unidades habitacionais, garantindo boa qualidade ambiental para os usuários. Como resultado final, foram produzidas fichas catalogando todas as qualidades atribuídas a cada uma das unidades habitacionais propostas. / This work main objective is re-qualify buildings that remain in a situation of abandonment or disuse in downtown São Paulo, changing the original use, of business and service, to housing. That\'s because urban centers of several cities keep buildings under these conditions and, on the other hand, the demand for housing is growing in these spaces, where the job offer is higher, as well as the easy access to public transportation, sanitation, health services, education, among others. For this, thermal and ergonomic analysis were made, and from these results, changes in the internal areas chosen spaces were proposed in order to improve overall building autonomy. Such analyses were by means of computer simulation of thermal and light variants, both to the original state of the building as well to the proposal, the result of ergonomic analyses, to meet the new demands of users. Through these analyses, it is explicit the possibility of adapting these buildings which remain underutilized or in disuse, to housing units, ensuring good environmental quality to users. As a final result, files were produced cataloguing all the qualities attributed to each of the housing units.