Premium
Investigation of air gaps entrapped in protective clothing systems
Author(s) -
Kim Young,
Lee Calvin,
Li Peng,
Corner Brian D.,
Paquette Steven
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
fire and materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 58
eISSN - 1099-1018
pISSN - 0308-0501
DOI - 10.1002/fam.790
Subject(s) - clothing , air gap (plumbing) , thermal manikin , air movement , thermal , air layer , environmental science , architectural engineering , simulation , engineering , computer science , mechanical engineering , forensic engineering , materials science , meteorology , nanotechnology , composite material , physics , archaeology , layer (electronics) , thermal insulation , history
Air gaps entrapped in protective clothing are known as one of the major factors affecting heat transfer through multiple layers of flexible clothing fabrics. The identification and quantification of the air gaps are two aspects of a multidisciplinary research effort directed toward improving the flame/thermal protective performance of the clothing. Today's three‐dimensional (3‐D) whole body digitizers, which provide accurate representations of the surface of the human body, can be a novel means for visualizing and quantifying the air gaps between the wearer and his clothing. In this paper we discuss how images from a 3‐D whole body digitizer are used to determine local and global distributions of air gaps and the quantification of air gap sizes in single and multilayer clothing systems dressed on a thermal manikin. Examples are given that show concordance between air gap distributions and burn patterns obtained from full‐scale manikin fire tests. We finish with a discussion of the application of air gap information to bench‐scale testing to improve the protective performance of current flame/thermal protective clothing. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.