A comfortable and livable living environment can be created through the design of patios in traditional southern rural Chinese dwellings. By connecting indoor and outdoor spaces, patios enable the comprehensive functions of ventilation and shading. To investigate the effects of patios on the building environment and energy conservation, the field parameters of the Wu Family Mansion in Cuijiao Village, Fujian Province, southern China, were measured in August 2016. The results indicate that patios located at the center of dwellings can effectively mitigate the impact of outdoor climate on the indoor environment. Furthermore, a reasonable depth-to-width ratio of the patio is conducive to natural ventilation and energy utilization. Through discussions and simulations using CFD and EcoTECT, it is determined that the reasonable depth-to-width ratio should not be less than 0.06, and a depth of 1.6 m is the most appropriate for patio design to achieve adequate ventilation and illumination. With the Adaptive Predicted Mean Vote (APMV) value ranging from 0 to 1.41, the indoor environment of this rural building falls within the adaptive comfort zone. Compared with air-conditioned rooms, the energy-saving rate achieved by natural ventilation is approximately 26.2%.

The impact of wind direction on comfort and health remains underexplored in the field of natural ventilation. This study adopts the concepts of invigorating wind/deficiency wind from the “nine palaces and eight winds” theoretical framework in the Huangdi Neijing, integrating solar terms and wind direction as temporal-spatial elements into existing environmental factor analysis paradigms. Three key questions were explored, namely, the temporal principles of meteorological cycle division from an annual perspective, the impact of invigorating wind/deficiency wind on climatic stability during solar term cycles, and the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of invigorating wind/deficiency wind. Multi-scale analyses were conducted using typical meteorological year data and real-time meteorological data from case cities. Results showed that solar term cycle divisions adjusted based on temperature variations better align with regional climatic characteristics. The ratio of invigorating wind/deficiency wind on solar term days may imply climatic stability within solar term cycles. Also, significant differences exist between deficiency wind and invigorating wind during high-disease-incidence solar terms, though their manifestations vary. These findings help to find new wind characteristics to explain the comfort and health effects of natural ventilation and will provide scientific foundations for further exploration of well-being in indoor environments.

Reinforced concrete is a material with high reliability and long life. In order to make accurate life prediction based on the geological environment of western saline soil, a composite solution composed of sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate is set to prepare reinforced concrete specimens with different water-to-binder ratios, and the specimens are placed in the solution for long-term immersion. The SEM, EDS and other tests are carried out for microscopic analysis to explore the corrosion law of reinforced concrete under multi-factor corrosion. Taking the relative corrosion current density as the degradation data and modeling, the Gamma stochastic process model is established based on the measured partial life data and then the remaining life is predicted. The results show that the corrosion resistance of reinforced concrete increases with the decrease of concrete water-binder ratio. The Gamma stochastic process can effectively describe the corrosion trajectory of steel bars in concrete, and it is feasible to predict the remaining life of reinforced concrete.

Air conditioning is the most common and efficient measure against summer heat. However, overcooling issues exist widely in well-conditioned buildings, and the health risks and causes require further exploration. This study aims to rethink the indoor environment control and demand in hot summer from a novel perspective of yin summer-heat in traditional Chinese medicine. The core idea was to reflect health risks embodied in the indoor environment control that was oriented by the average comfort zone in air-conditioned buildings. Three research questions were explored, namely, indoor–outdoor environment features in hot summer, the heterogeneity of demands and behaviors, and relationships between personal attributes and lifestyles. Eleven field tests were conducted in residential buildings, together with experiments in an office building and three questionnaire surveys with 765 responses from 2020 to 2023 in China. Results showed that notable indoor–outdoor environment gaps appeared due to air conditioning. Yin summer-heat symptoms, such as a heavy feeling in the body, were reported by individuals of vulnerable constitutions even in neutral air-conditioned environments. In addition, Chinese medicine theories, including pathogenic factors, constitutions, and health preservation principles, worked well to interpret diverse environment perceptions, demands, and adaptive behaviors. These findings will add to the scientific basis of wellbeing in indoor environments.

Heat exposure has emerged as a global health threat, making air conditioning a necessary and effective measure in the era of climate change. Meanwhile, over-reliance on cooling technology has triggered new crises, exacerbating carbon emission and fundamentally eroding humanity's climate adaptability. Behavioral transformation among occupants is becoming increasingly crucial. However, there remains limited understanding on occupants' energy saving motivations. This study aims to explore the mechanism of energy saving behaviors of air conditioner users, specifically, the unclear interactions among multi-dimensional beliefs and the overlooked synergistic effects of health-conscious habits and climate-adaptive awareness. An extended model of the Theory of Planned Behavior was developed incorporating past behaviors, wellness habits, climate change adaptation, and thermal comfort factors. A total of 2320 effective household questionnaires were collected in urban China in 2024. The cognitive construction of energy saving behaviors were examined by structural equation modelling techniques. The results showed that, the top impact factors of energy saving behaviors of air conditioner users at home were past behaviors (total effect 0.385), norms (0.328), perceived behavioral control (0.169), and wellness habits (0.158), being mediated by attitudes, norms or intention. Also, the impact of attitudes and climate change adaptation were limited. In addition, the potential interventions were proposed considering the above key impact factors. Innovatively, this study integrated the research paradigm of energy saving behaviors with individuals' health preservation under the background of climate change. The findings are to provide empirical support for the design of multi-dimensional energy saving interventions.

Space cooling is one of the fastest growing end-uses globally due to climate change and upgraded living standards. However, existing studies were insufficient on human's adaptation to hot summer indoors other than in tropical or subtropical climate, hindering efficient cooling in buildings. This study examined the indoor thermal environment and adaptive behaviors in summer of urban households in northern China, to add new data and ideas in temperate climate. The meta-analysis review, online questionnaire survey, and national statistical databases were used to investigate thermal demand, device basis, and behavior modes of northern urban households. In addition, path analyses demonstrated the formation and dynamics of adaptive behaviors under social practice theories. Results showed that northern households got 2 degrees C hotter in summer since the new century, being close to southern cases. The penetration of air conditioners in urban China was 85%, which approached developed countries after the rapid growth since 2000, enabling affordable cooling at home. Although northern urbanites, particularly middle-aged or elderly people, were not addicted to air conditioning, young people, who adopted less frequently wellness habits, tended to rely on air conditioners and paid more power bills in summer. The findings will facilitate future studies on efficient cooling solutions.

The thermal performance of rural building envelopes is mostly non-standardized in Northern China, resulting in significant heat loss. In this study, we take, as an example, the central area of Liaoning province, with the objective of proposing some low-cost and energy-efficient solutions. Through our investigations, we found that heating energy consumption was reduced by 20% and construction costs increased by less than CNY 8000 (USD 1108), which can be accepted by rural residents. In order to achieve this target, the NSGA-II algorithm integrated with Rhino + Grasshopper and EnergyPlus simulation kernel was used to establish a thermal performance optimization model for the heat transfer of rural building envelopes in this severe cold region. Among the above-calculated Pareto optimal solutions, the recommended thickness of insulation layers for room floors, roofs, and external walls was about 70 mm, 50 mm, and 40 mm, respectively. Furthermore, we tried to reduce the window-to-wall ratio as much as possible. Finally, based on both the lower building renovation cost and energy-saving rate, three technical solutions from which rural residents could select, according to their specific needs, are put forward.

The residential indoor environment has been acknowledged as one of the main settings affecting quality of life. However, complex relationships exist between residential indoor environment and quality of life. Most studies frequently tend to address a narrow range of residential environmental factors and associated quality of life. Therefore, this study is to identify the relationships between overall residential indoor environment and quality of life, and how relationships can be influenced by potential confounding factors, based on the Pan-China residential environment and health survey data. Results showed that the prominent residential environmental issues reported by participants were thermal problems. There was a statistically significant association between the increase in physical/mental health conditions and the reduction in reported frequency of residential environmental problems, including thermal, indoor air quality, lighting, acoustic, hygiene, safe and security environment, even after adjustment for age, sex, education, smoking status, drinking status, and number of residents per household. Furthermore, the significant combined effects on physical/mental health were found for paired residential environmental problems, including temperature and humidity, thermal environment and air quality/noise/mold, air quality and noise, and fall risks and wet problems, after adjustment for confounders. This paper attempted to disentangle complex relationships between residential indoor environment and quality of life, which will provide a basis to develop strategies for improving quality of life.

Individual surveillance methods help identify subtle health risks that may be overlooked in room surveillance. This study aims to investigate campus environmental health issues by tracking university students’ daily exposure processes in their living environment. A field survey was conducted among 58 students at a university in northern China. They were equipped with a “companion data collection device” to record exposure experiences and activity pathways related to light, heat, and air environments. A questionnaire was also administered. Morning exposure to adequate light (Circadian Stimulus ≥ 0.3) increased alertness, but only 57% of undergraduates met this standard, and 67% of those waking up after 8 AM experienced this. People with different preferences chose diverse dining spots, and those favoring “roasted,” “stir-fried,” and “deep-fried” foods encountered higher PM2.5 pollution concentrations during meals. During periods of central heating, there is a trade-off between ventilation and heating efficiency. “Slightly open window” for bedroom ventilation at night resulted in a slight temperature decrease of about 1.2 °C but effectively controlled the increase in CO2 concentrations (about 180 ppm). Companion-type data collection shifts focus from buildings to individuals, providing the means and basis for identifying potential health risks in daily campus life.

Daylight has a contradictory impact on human comfort, photobiological needs, and physical and mental health. Hence, "daylighting-thermal balance " has attracted attention in the construction of daylighting environment. Currently, the focus of daylighting-thermal balance is primarily on visual performance, comfort, and energy consumption, whereas the needs of health and pleasure have not been fully considered. Therefore, in this study, a new concept of daylighting-thermal balance was proposed from the perspectives of visual performance, visual comfort, thermal comfort, health, and pleasure. Considering a typical space in a cold region in winter as an example, a daylight regulation strategy for achieving daylighting-thermal balance was proposed, and its thermal and daylighting environment performances were explored by simulation. It was found that the photobiological demand-oriented daylight regulation strategy could not only effectively eliminate glare but also meet the photobiological demand. The thermal radiation of directional reflected sunlight outside the visual field could increase the surface temperature of a specific area on a wall facing the back of an occupant by 5.3-22.9 ?, and the ratio of the absolute value of the difference between the operative temperature and thermal neutral temperature before and after regulation (delta Top-o/delta Top-c) could reach 1.4-3.6. The results show that the daylight regulation strategy of daylighting-thermal balance can effectively improve the health performance and pleasure perception of the environment. The proposed strategy thus provides a theoretical basis and technical route for the construction of human-centered thermal and light environment in the future.

Currently the indoor environment quality is described or evaluated mainly by the subjective or objective data. However, research increasingly has demonstrated that objective and subjective data both had some weaknesses to characterize the indoor environment quality, and they can compensate for each other's relative weaknesses. Hence, this study aims to develop an integration model to allow indoor subjective and objective data to be combined based on the structural equation modeling approach, using the Northeast China residential indoor environmental survey data. The results indicated that the integration model had a good fit for the survey data, and the model validity was confirmed. Moreover, in contrast to the subjective data (R-2 = 0.363) and objective data (R-2 = 0.239), the integrated data (R-2 = 0.553) improved the explanatory power on the satisfaction with the overall indoor environment. Furthermore, this integration model demonstrated that indoor subjective data assigned more weights to the integrated data than the corresponding objective data. The association strength of thermal environment and indoor air quality (0.43 or 0.47) was the strongest among the interactions of thermal, air quality, acoustic, and lighting environments. Consequently, the main contribution of this paper was that it provided a comprehensive model to accomplish the integration of indoor environmental subjective and objective data, promoting the ability to describe and assess the indoor environment quality.

通风开口设计与自然通风和室内环境热舒适直接相关.目前,我国现行建筑通风开口尺度涉及的相关设计标准主要借鉴了早期台湾省及日本建筑法规等来确定,一直沿用至今.标准中的通风开口尺度未考虑气候差异性,全国采用统一赋值,该数值确定时重点考虑了是否满足换气次数的要求,较少关注对建筑热环境的影响,故开展了此项工作.首先,系统地回顾了我国通风开口设计标准的发展沿革及通风开口尺度的确定依据.并在此基础上,以多层住宅楼中间层某一南向单侧通风起居室作为典型案例,利用EnergyPlus软件模拟分析了通风开口尺度设计值在我国不同气候区6个代表性城市的适用性.研究结果表明,我国现行通风开口尺度设计标准能够满足建筑换气次数的要求,但较难满足夏季建筑室内环境热舒适性要求.为此,本研究进一步以案例建筑的换气次数、适应性热舒适指标为优化目标开展了关联研究,得到了各城市案例建筑通风开口面积与地板面积的最佳修正比值,使得室内不舒适百分比有所下降,其中成都地区最为显著.本研究为建立更加符合我国国情的建筑通风开口尺度设计提供了理论参考依据.

The residential indoor environment and health have received increasing public interest recently. To improve knowledge of impacts of the residential indoor environment on health status of inhabitants, a Chinese Residential Indoor Environment and Health (CRIEH) survey was conducted from March 2014 to June 2014, and provided the information on 7934 residents in ten provinces and two municipalities. Results showed that prominent indoor environmental issues of households reporting were: “thermal problems in summer” (55%) in the living room; “low humidity in winter” (51%) in the bedroom; “odor” (39%) in the kitchen; “thermal problems in winter” (52%) in the toilet. Moreover, there were significant associations between indoor environment components and self-reported health. The largest association coefficient was found between safety and overall health (0.40). There was a relatively large association coefficient between safety and chronic pain such as joint pain (0.31) and lower back pain (0.29). Allergies had a relatively large coefficient with indoor air quality (0.36). Furthermore, significant associations with the overall indoor environment quality were found for self-reported health even after adjusting for personal characteristics. This study will promote understanding of the complex relationships between the residential indoor environment and occupants’ health in China.

The highest concentration of PM2.5 in cold rural dwellings of Northeast China is often generated by using mini stoves for cooking and heating, which can directly influence human health. As of yet, little is known about the impact of different daily life behavior on PM2.5 diffusion and residents’ exposure in rural dwellings. In this study, the characteristics of indoor PM2.5 variation and diffusion in rural dwellings was described by measuring some rural dwellings and establishing a multi-zone network model. The calculated results indicated that the relative errors between theoretical calculated results and experimental measured results are within 10%. PM2.5 diffusion in a rural dwelling can be predicted. Furthermore, the impacts of daily life behavior on PM2.5 diffusion and exposure assessment can be analyzed. Through discussion, heating behavior is the most important factor causing high concentrations of PM2.5 in each room, followed by cooking, smoking, and cleaning. Door opening time can lead to different interzonal airflows and PM2.5 diffusion rates. By reducing the inner door opening time to less than 1 min, PM2.5 could decrease to 300 μg/m3. Door closing behavior could decrease risk that PM2.5 diffuses to bedrooms by more than 50%, and exposure of residents in bedrooms could reduce to 100 (μg·h)/m3 effectively.

The intermittent heating mode of Kang plays an important role in the heat storage and release in cave dwellings. However, research on the effect of Kang heating on the thermal process of traditional buildings is rare. Therefore, based on long-term monitoring of cave dwellings, regular conclusions about the influence of Kang heating on the thermal environment were obtained. Furthermore, an unsteady heat transfer model of the envelope was proposed for the first time. Then, based on this model, the thermal storage performance of cave dwellings during the period of Kang intermittent heating was explored. The results showed that, due to Kang heating, the indoor air temperature of cave dwellings could be increased by an average of 3.1 °C. Furthermore, the inner walls had a large thermal mass and the maximum heat storage in a single day was 487.75 kJ/m2, while the maximum heat release was 419.02 kJ/m2. The heat release at night could reach 87%. In this paper, the law of thermal storage and release characteristics of earthen building envelopes under intermittent heating was firstly obtained. Results can enrich the thermal process theory of earthen buildings and provide a theoretical basis and technical support for building thermal environmental construction.

Numerous studies have shown that the technology used to improve the living environment in rural areas often loses its effect in a few years, and farmers return to their familiar and habitual way of life. The failure to consider the basic needs of farmers is an important reason for these problems. Therefore, this study conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses on the factors that influence the demand on the human settlement environment through visits, field measurements, a questionnaire survey (which involved more than 20 households in 14 villages in seven provinces and cities in northern China), and the construction of a structural equation model based on demand. The survey included (amongst other factors) personal attributes, daily living, diet and environmental preferences, living customs and energy consumption, housing construction methods, and the surrounding environment. The results showed that, compared with mental happiness (0.084) and physical health (0.119), socioeconomic status (0.260) had a greater influence on the weight of the overall demand satisfaction among the various demand indicators. Farmers prioritized yard planning (0.135), toilets (0.126), and living rooms (0.095). They also gave importance to the indoor thermal environment (0.088), air quality (0.088), and food problems (0.087). The findings of this study provide a theoretical reference for the inception of technical approaches to improve human settlement environment centered on rural houses in North China, and the realization of sustainable development in the future.

Solar air collectors installed on buildings can significantly reduce conventional energy consumption in winter and summer. However, some problems arise in the utilization process, such as overheating, inconvenient operation control and low energy efficiency, etc. This work is a parametric analysis focusing on the automatic control and thermal efficiency improvement of the solar wall. An improved color-changing solar wall integrated with automatic control components, such as a photoelectric fan and temperature-controlled damper, was proposed in this paper. Based on the experimental data, the average daily heat output of the color-changing solar wall is 1.08 MJ per unit floor area on clear days in winter and the average thermal efficiency is 56.8%. Meanwhile, a quantitative analysis was carried out based on monitoring experiments for evaluating the thermal characteristic of automatic control components. Furthermore, in order to improve the thermal performance of the solar wall, parametric analysis was performed by numerical simulation. Results from this paper can provide a theoretical basis for the application of solar air collectors in modern buildings.

民用建筑舒适性空调室内外空气计算参数是影响室内热环境营造、建筑能耗计算和设备选型的重要因素.本文通过文献调研,在总结涉及民用建筑舒适性空调室内外空气设计计算参数的GB 50019-2003《采暖通风与空气调节设计规范》、GB 50189-2015《公共建筑节能设计标准》和DB11/891-2020《居住建筑节能设计标准》3类标准历史发展演变的基础上,对这类参数确定方法的依据追溯展开综述研究,并归纳了国内外设计依据,为今后更加科学合理地制定符合我国国情的民用建筑舒适性空调室内外空气设计计算参数提供参考依据.

In order to further reduce the impact of climate fluctuations on the typical meteorological year (TMY) database, this paper introduces an ensemble empirical model decomposition method to extract the periodic fluctuation and random fluctuation data from outdoor climate data separately, and to construct a comprehensive description parameter that eliminates the influence of random fluctuation data. An innovative TMY based on the comprehensive description parameter was developed in six selected cities of different climate zones in China. Compared with the existing Chinese TMY development method and outdoor design parameters, it is found that the typical meteorological months (TMMs) of each city and the outdoor design parameters from the improved TMY database have changed to a certain extent. Through the correlation analysis between improved TMY database and the cumulative long-average meteorological data, it reveals that the improved TMY can better describe the local average climatic characteristics. Finally, this paper discusses the impact of the improved TMY on the building heat loss index and outdoor thermal comfort in different building shapes. The results demonstrate that the energy demand and outdoor thermal comfort analysis based on the improved TMY are closer to long-term averaged outdoor climate, and the calculation deviations compared with conventional method are reduced by 1.18%–21.08% and 53.42%–76.82% respectively. This research will refine outdoor climate data for building design and analysis.

Light and thermal environments are important factors in designing campus buildings. The existing research on human-centered indoor environment needs is insufficient. Hence, it is difficult to comprehensively evaluate the indoor light and thermal environmental quality. Therefore, we proposed "time satisfaction rate of the comprehensive light and thermal environment requirements (TSR)" and "spatial satisfaction rate of the comprehensive light and thermal environment requirements (SSR)," evaluation indicators that comprehensively accounted for visual, photobiological, and thermal comfort requirements. The study was conducted in the winter on campus buildings located in a cold region with central heating. We analyzed the effects of building morphology, orientation, and outdoor environment on the light and thermal environment in classrooms and offices using field measured data. The light environment was regulated according to occupants' individual demands during our research. The results showed that the TSRs of east-facing and west-facing offices were 67% and 33% lower than the TSRs of the south-facing office and 33% and 33% lower than the TSRs of the north-facing office on clear and overcast days, respectively. Moreover, the SSR of north-facing classrooms was 16.5% and 8.3% higher than that of the south-facing classrooms on clear and overcast days, respectively. Measures to prevent the glare from east facing and west-facing facades of the building bulge reduced the illuminance and CS by 10%. Our research provides reference and basis for improving the design of light and thermal environments to fulfill occupants' needs in a comprehensive and human-centered method.