INFLUENCES OF THE NUMBER OF TOURISTS ON THE ALTERATION OF TEMPERATURE AND RELATIVE HUMIDITY IN ANCIENT BUILDINGS

Abstract

The study of air temperature and relative humidity in three major national heritage sites in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province. The chapel of Wat Na Phra Main, the shrine of Wat Phanancherng, and the shrine of Wat Monkhol Bhorphit, 3 places of the most interesting with a large number of tourists visiting each day. The air temperature and relative humidity of are one of the important factors that can lead to deterioration. Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya is a terrain plain with higher humidity in various seasons than other regions. The number of visitors that come to visit the building can affect the temperature and relative humidity. This accelerates the chemical and physical changes of the material. The study was conducted by installing five automatic air temperature and relative humidity detectors and counting the number of tourists every 15 minutes, corresponding to the recording of temperature and relative humidity data from the automatic recorder over a period of 7 days. The relative humidity of the air at various locations was significantly different. Position and time factors did not interact at the 0.05 level. Analysis of the relationship between air temperature and relative humidity with the total number of people within the building at any time in the three archaeological buildings was found to be linear. The results of the regression analysis showed that the number of people influencing the air temperature and relative humidity. As a result, the air temperature inside the building increased significantly and the relative humidity decreases. However, the coefficient of confidence is not very high. It means that other environmental factors could be influenced on such variation.