Experimental and modeling approach for estimating the psychological adaptation and perceived thermal comfort of occupants in indoor spaces

• A quantitative model was proposed to evaluate psychological adaptation. • The adaptive predictive mean vote (aPMV) model was enhanced. • The psychological coefficient of occupants was evaluated. • The adaptive factor was determined and linked to psychological schema. • It was also linked to the outdoor air temperature and indoor operative temperature. This study proposes a methodology for examining the relationship between environmental thermal conditions and occupant's perceived thermal comfort evaluation. Therefore, their psychological adaptation was examined to quantify and incorporate it in thermal comfort evaluations. To achieve the closure of the model's system of equations, experiments are carried out in which subjects are exposed to various thermal conditions in an enclosed space that simulates an office indoor environment; thermal measurements and perceived data are collected. Thus, the study aims to evaluate the adaptive factor that causes the difference between the physiological evaluation and the subjects’ actual thermal perception. This adaptive factor is linked to the physical stimuli experienced owing to the thermal environment and the cognitive information within the occupant's memory systems; thus, the closure equation is derived from the outdoor air temperature and indoor operative temperature.