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Numerical simulation of the influence of fabric’s motion on protective clothing performance during flash fire exposure

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Abstract

The motion of a person wearing protective clothing induces the clothing to move periodically towards the skin causing a cyclic variation in the air gap between the fabric and the skin. At the same time, the clothing movement causes cooling air to periodically flow into the air gap between the fabric and the skin. This paper uses a finite volume model to investigate these two effects and the resultant effect of the protective clothing movement on its performance during flash fire exposure. Special attention is drawn to the air gap model since it responds directly to the clothing movement. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the influence of a wider range of clothing movement. Specifically, the effect of the variation in the periodic movement frequency and amplitude on the clothing performance was investigated. The results show that increasing the movement frequency improves the clothing protective performance, while increasing the movement amplitude worsens the clothing performance.

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Abbreviations

A :

Surface area (m2)

a, b :

Finite volume discrete equation coefficient, source term

C :

Heat capacity (J/kg K)

c P :

Specific heat at constant pressure (J/kg K)

c v :

Specific heat at constant volume (J/kg K)

D l c :

Directional cosine integrated over ΔΩ l

\( \hat{e} \) :

Unit vector in coordinate direction

f :

Frequency

G :

Incident radiation (W/m2)

h :

Convective heat transfer coefficient (W/m2K)

I :

Intensity (W/m2)

k :

Thermal conductivity (W/mK)

L :

Thickness (m)

P :

Pre-exponential factor (1/s)

\( q^{\prime\prime} \) :

Heat flux (W/m2)

\( \overset{\lower0.5em\hbox{$\smash{\scriptscriptstyle\rightharpoonup}$}} {r} \) :

Position vector (m)

R :

Ideal gas constant (J/mol K)

rps :

Revolutions per second

\( \hat{s} \) :

Unit vector in a given direction

S :

Source function

s :

Geometric distance (m)

T :

Temperature (K)

t :

Time (s)

W :

Fabric width (m)

y :

Linear vertical coordinate (m)

Ω:

Solid angle (sr)

θ :

Polar angle (rad)

φ:

Quantitative measure of skin damage

ϕ :

Azimuthal angle (rad)

ΔE :

Activation energy of skin (J/kmol)

ΔV :

Volume of control volume (m3)

ΔΩl :

Control angle

α:

Air gap absorptivity

ε:

Emissivity

γ:

Extinction coefficient of the fabric (1/m)

κ :

Air gap absorption coefficient (1/m)

ρ:

Density (kg/m3) or surface reflectivity

σ:

Stefan-Boltzmann constant, 5.67 × 10−8 (W/m2K4)

τ:

Transmissivity

ω :

Blood perfusion rate (m3/s)/m3 of human tissue

air:

Air

amb:

Ambient conditions

b:

Human blood/black body

cnv:

Convection heat transfer

cr:

Human body core

ep, ds, sc:

Epidermis, dermis, subcutaneous human skin layers

exp:

Exposure

fab:

Fabric

fbr:

Fabric fiber

fl:

Flame

g:

Hot gases

mix:

Mixture

n, s:

North, south control volume faces

P:

Control volume central node

R, rad:

Radiation heat transfer

x, y, z:

Coordinate directions

A :

Apparent

l :

Index for direction

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, 57 Campus Dr., Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A9, Canada

    Ahmed Ghazy & Donald J. Bergstrom

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  1. Ahmed Ghazy
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  2. Donald J. Bergstrom
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Correspondence to Ahmed Ghazy.

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Ghazy, A., Bergstrom, D.J. Numerical simulation of the influence of fabric’s motion on protective clothing performance during flash fire exposure. Heat Mass Transfer 49, 775–788 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00231-013-1123-1

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