During the pandemic,face masks are one of the most significant self-protection necessities,but they also cause heat stress.By using the ERA5(ECMWF Reanalysis 5th Generation)database and the local weather bureau data,t...During the pandemic,face masks are one of the most significant self-protection necessities,but they also cause heat stress.By using the ERA5(ECMWF Reanalysis 5th Generation)database and the local weather bureau data,the effect of mask wearing on outdoor thermal sensation has been investigated by a survey conducted in the hot summer and cold winter region of eastern China in the summer of 2020.Results show that wearing a face mask for a longer period result in a higher level of discomfort,and the primary source of discomfort is hot and stuffy feelings.The effect of relative humidity is crucial for mask wearers in warm-biased thermal environments,as mean thermal sensation vote(TSV)peaks when environmental relative humidity reaches the range of 70%to 80%and decreases after this range due to the evaporation within the microclimate created by a face mask.Meanwhile,prolonged mask wearing increases participants’hot feelings,especially in warm environments.Specifically,participants wearing face masks for less than 30 min feel hot at a physiological equivalent temperature(PET)value of 34.4℃,but those who wear them for over 60 min express hot feelings even at a PET value of 24.7℃.The participants who wear a face mask while walking slowly outdoors have similar thermal sensations to those who do not wear a mask,but are in a higher activity level.The findings demonstrate that mask wearing has a crucial impact on outdoor thermal comfort assessment in a warm-biased outdoor thermal environment.展开更多
基金The work described in this paper was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52008079,No.52278094)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(No.2021M691790).
文摘During the pandemic,face masks are one of the most significant self-protection necessities,but they also cause heat stress.By using the ERA5(ECMWF Reanalysis 5th Generation)database and the local weather bureau data,the effect of mask wearing on outdoor thermal sensation has been investigated by a survey conducted in the hot summer and cold winter region of eastern China in the summer of 2020.Results show that wearing a face mask for a longer period result in a higher level of discomfort,and the primary source of discomfort is hot and stuffy feelings.The effect of relative humidity is crucial for mask wearers in warm-biased thermal environments,as mean thermal sensation vote(TSV)peaks when environmental relative humidity reaches the range of 70%to 80%and decreases after this range due to the evaporation within the microclimate created by a face mask.Meanwhile,prolonged mask wearing increases participants’hot feelings,especially in warm environments.Specifically,participants wearing face masks for less than 30 min feel hot at a physiological equivalent temperature(PET)value of 34.4℃,but those who wear them for over 60 min express hot feelings even at a PET value of 24.7℃.The participants who wear a face mask while walking slowly outdoors have similar thermal sensations to those who do not wear a mask,but are in a higher activity level.The findings demonstrate that mask wearing has a crucial impact on outdoor thermal comfort assessment in a warm-biased outdoor thermal environment.
