Study of Heat Transfer Through Multilayer Clothing Assemblies: A Theoretical Prediction

Abstract It has long been recognised that heat transfer through clothing is a main constraint to the comfort properties of clothing. The present work relates to the development of a mathematical model for the prediction of heat transmission through multilayer clothing with air in between two successive layers of fabric in a multilayered clothing assembly. A mathematical model was developed using general equations of heat transfer through porous media and was validated using experimental results. A series of multilayered fabric assemblies were created with different combinations of fabric layers and air gaps of different thicknesses. The predicted total thermal resistance of these fabric assemblies was obtained from the model and the values were compared with experimental results. The total thermal resistance of these fabric assemblies were measured using a guarded hot plate for validating the model. Fairly good correlations between the predicted and experimental values of thermal resistance were observed.