View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Loughborough University Institutional Repository This item was submitted to Loughborough’s Institutional Repository (https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/) by the author and is made available under the following Creative Commons Licence conditions. For the full text of this licence, please go to: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/ A Simple Theoretical Model of Heat and Moisture Transport in Multi-layer Garments in Cool Ambient Air Eugene H. Wissler Department of Chemical Engineering The University of Texas at Austin Austin, Texas, USA George Havenith Environmental Ergonomics Research Group Department of human sciences Loughborough University Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK Tel. No.: (936) 597-9233 e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract Overall resistances for heat and vapour transport in a multilayer garment depend on the properties of individual layers and the thickness of any air space between layers. Under uncomplicated, steady-state conditions, thermal and mass fluxes are uniform within the garment, and the rate of transport is simply computed as the overall temperature or water concentration difference divided by the appropriate resistance. However, that simple computation is not valid under cool ambient conditions when the vapour permeability of the garment is low, and condensation occurs within the garment. Several recent studies have measured heat and vapour transport when condensation occurs within the garment (Richards, et al., 2002, and Havenith, et al., 2008). In addition to measuring cooling rates for ensembles when the skin was either wet or dry, both studies employed a flat-plate apparatus to measure resistances of individual layers.