Human body micro-environment: The benefits of controlling airflow interaction

• Human body micro-environment, convective flow, heat- and mass exchange are discussed.
• The airflow interaction in the vicinity of the human body is complex and important.
• Control of airflow interactions can improve thermal comfort and inhaled air quality.

This paper focuses on the micro-environment around a human body, and especially on its interaction with the surrounding environment. Research on the free convection flow generated by a human body (including the convective boundary layer around the body and the thermal plume above the body), its interaction with external invading flows and the resulting heat- and mass transfer, all of which are important for thermal comfort and inhaled air quality, is discussed. The benefit arising from control of the airflow interaction in the micro-environment, in terms of thermal comfort and inhaled air quality, is demonstrated by several methods that are applicable in practice.