Outdoor thermal condition and people’s exposure time - A case study of cold climate

Outdoor thermal condition is one of the important factors for people’s exposure time. This article is the results of a field study had been done in the mid winter 2010 – 2011 in Sheffield, UK. The aim is to find out the relationship between climatic condition, architectural design and peoples behavior. Two outdoor thermal indices that are appropriate for cold condition are used to explain the cold stress situation. To have the related information, the weather data is collected by a mobile Kestrel weather station that is designed for outdoor events. At the same time the people’s behavior is observed according to different activities. Special attention is performed to disables, children and elders that are more sensitive to thermal condition. The results show that outdoor thermal indices such as UTCI (universal thermal climate index), WCET (wind chill equivalent temperature) and THI (Temperature Humidity Index) have not the same explanation for the same cold stress conditions. Other result is that people’s outdoor exposure time is related to outdoor thermal situation but some psychological adaptation factors such as expectation and exciting condition will cause them to come out in spite of bad thermal situation. Architectural design will play an important role to modify thermal condition.