Validação do Índice Climático Térmico Universal (UTCI) para o clima tropical continental

Abstract

This work focuses on the comfort and thermal perception in open air environments considering that the thermal sensation and perception interactions of a given population are in part a response to environmental variables together with individual, physiological variables besides subjective ones such as expectations, habits, acclimatization , and even psychological ones, yet unexplored. All this individual perception assumes a collective role because when it is geographically fixed, it belongs to heterogeneous spatial groups, with particular microclimates, making it difficult to apply thermal indices in a generic way. The objective of this research was therefore the calibration of the Universal Climate Thermal Index UTCI for the tropicalcontinental climate, with classification of Aw of Koeppen-Geiger and used as object of research the municipality of Cuiabá, MT. The 722 questionnaires collected together with micrometeorological surveys evaluated individual, physiological and subjective climatic variables such as acclimatization, influence of air conditioning use, BMI, as well as the influence of the reported mood state. Calibration of the index revealed a range of comfort with large discrepancies in relation to the originals of the UTCI, as well as values that did not correspond to the ranges of cold discomfort, and an average of three degrees above between maximum and minimum for the respective ranges of heat discomfort. Regarding the genders, the female neutral temperature was slightly higher than the male, both having the same maximum comfort limits, but with a greater extension of male thermal comfort zone. The minimum percentage of dissatisfied (PD) showed greater adaptability of the population to warmer environments due to greater thermal tolerance to heat. Acclimatization for the use of HVAC systems was confirmed revealing the male population as the most affected, with significant difference by the Mann-Whitney test. The influence of the BMI on the thermal perception was verified through a significant difference by the Mann-Whitney test, in addition to the lower neutral temperature found for the population with the highest BMI (over 25 kg/m²). The research on the influence of reported mood states revealed a majority of the population declared happy and very happy, and found in the population declared sad or very sad significant difference by the Kruskal-Wallis test regarding thermal perception. In the comparison of the degree of isolation by the clothing (Icl), the population surveyed presented lower isolation in relation to the European population, due to inadequate dressing as observed and / or attenuation of thermal perception on cold days due to the expectation of milder conditions. The study instigates further multidisciplinary research to understand the influence of mood states and emotions on thermal perception, as well as draws attention to the specificities of environments such as hospitals, nursing homes, day care centers, psychiatric and psychiatric treatment clinics, and the like population concentration is more vulnerable to negative mood states.