Investigation of the Relationship between Tension Level and Thermal Sensation. A Case Study of University Study Hall

¹ Mechanical Engineering Department, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Science, Atılım University, Ankara, Türkiye
² Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Atılım University, Ankara, Türkiye
³ Psychology Department, Atılım University, Ankara, Türkiye
⁴ Energy Systems Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Atılım University, Ankara, Türkiye

^* Corresponding author: Mehmet Furkan Özbey, furkan.ozbey@atilim.edu.tr

Abstract

The adaptive thermal comfort model steps forth against Fanger's Predicted Mean Vote/ Percentage of Dissatisfied model because of considering the psychological and behavioural adjustments in addition to environmental and personal parameters in mixed-mode and non-air-conditioned buildings. Among behavioural and psychological adjustments, human behaviour is more investigated than psychological adjustments in aspects of thermal sensation and comfort in the studies. To meet the deficit in the literature on how psychological adjustments affect thermal sensation, an experimental investigation was conducted to explore the effects of tension level on the Thermal Sensation Votes (TSV) of the students. Profile of Mood States (POMS) questionnaire was used to determine the tension level of the students. Experiments were conducted in a university study hall which is in the warm-summer Mediterranean climate (Csb) zone according to Köppen-Geiger Climate Classification. A total of 1159 students participated in the study, and the relation between the tension level and TSVs of the students were investigated for each gender. To test the associations between the nine quantitative subscales of tension level and the TSV, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was computed. Based on results, “anxious” were considerable for the TSVs of both genders where the p-values were <0,001 for male and 0,044 for female students. In addition, while “shaky” (p=0,001) and “uneasy” (p<0,001) were found significant for the TSVs of male, “nervous” (p=0,013) were discovered noteworthy for the TSVs of the female students.