ROOM: a method to predict thermal comfort at any point in a space.

The paper presents the theoretical background to an analytical tool, called ROOM, that is used by a large design practice to predict comfort conditions, and plot detailed comfort contours within a given space. ROOM is based on a thorough analysis of the radiant heat transfers that occur within a complex space linked to an explicit finite difference treatment of elements that store thermal energy. Airflow modelling is, at present, limited to simple single zone or two zone (stratified) space, with buoyancy driven ventilation as an option. The output can, however, be used as input to a computational fluid dynamics program, and an example is given in the paper.