Application of Immersive Virtual Environment (IVE) in Occupant Energy-Use Behavior Studies Using Physiological Responses

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Publication Date

1-1-2017

Abstract

This study proposes a novel research technique that tackles one of the major causes of uncertainty in building performance - application of immersive virtual environment (IVE) in occupant energy related behavioral studies. The concept upon which occupant energy-use related behavior and thermal comfort is based, obviously encompasses both psychological and physiological parameters. The authors try to determine whether the virtual replica of the lab environment, as a proposed test-bed for studies of occupancy behavior, would have a significant impact on subjects' perceiver thermal comfort. Given that, the main focus of this study is to gain insight into individuals' thermal comfort and their physiological reactions in a wide range of energy expenditure modes of bodily activity, in IVE from what is typical in the physical environment, in-situ. To that end, pairwise comparisons across two comparable experimental settings were performed for heart rate (HR), oxygen uptake (VO2), respiratory exchange ratio (RER), tympanic temperature (Tt), and skin temperature (Tsk) responses. The data revealed no statistically significant differences in the mean of the measured physiological variables between in-situ and IVE interventions except for the RER (p=0.025). This finding supports the ability of IVE to replicate mundane realism in occupant thermal comfort and subsequently occupant energy related behavior studies.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

Congress on Computing in Civil Engineering, Proceedings

First Page

381

Last Page

389

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