Thermal comfort in office buildings with underfloor air supply quantitative and qualitative analysis

Thermal comfort in office buildings is usually unsatisfactory when ceiling air distribution isemployed, because it is hard to make adjustments to reach specific occupancy needs. On theother hand, underfloor air distribution allows some flexibility for adjustments. In order toevaluate thermal comfort conditions in office environments with underfloor air supply system,a laboratory facility was built at the Universidade de Sao Paulo, Brazil. In this work,quantitative and qualitative results obtained in such facility are discussed. At the first stage,evaluations were made with simulators instead of users participation, when thermal comfortvariables measurements were performed. At the second stage, the qualitative analysis wasmade by a sample of people exposed to thermal conditions previously established inaccordance with ISO 7730 recommendations. The results highlighted that the underfloor airsupply system is adequate to promote thermal comfort conditions for office buildings users.