Abstract
One of the limitations of thermal comfort studies in air-conditioned spaces is that they often ignore the fact that people have the capacity to adapt to their surroundings. In order to overcome the limitations of current thermal comfort models, several research studies have been carried out to identify comfort standards in free-running buildings, including studies of thermal comfort in open spaces. The aim of this study is to evaluate the thermal sensation of visitors to an urban park in João Pessoa-PB, a city with hot and humid climate in the northeast of Brazil. The urban park used as study area is one of the main green areas of the city. The applied methodology included the use of microclimatic monitoring of the variables: air temperature, globe temperature, air humidity, air velocity and solar radiation. We carried out 900 interviews to evaluate users' thermal sensation. The results showed that 70% of respondents were comfortable when the air temperature was between 26 and 31 ºC. Though mathematical modelling it was possible to observe that environmental variables significantly affect the actual thermal sensation. A comparison between thermal sensation and the calculated indices PMV, SET and PET showed that the PET index rage between 24 and 34 ºC was the one that best reflected the actual thermal sensation of the interviewees.
Keywords:
Urban Park; Thermal sensation; Open spaces
Fonte: adaptado de 
