Prediction of thermal stress according to cooling conditions within personal protective clothing using computational fluid dynamics
Soyoung Park, Yejin LeePurpose
This study analyzes changes in personal protective clothing and the human body under different cooling conditions and evaluates computational fluid dynamics (CFD) efficiency by comparing results with experimental data.
Design/methodology/approach
Three clothing conditions were tested: (Case 1) protective clothing only, (Case 2) protective clothing with coolant and (Case 3) protective clothing with coolant and fan. A 3D human and protective clothing model was created using a virtual simulation program for CFD analysis. Ansys SpaceClaim converted the models into analyzable geometries, meshing in Ansys Fluent Meshing and analysis in Ansys Fluent and CFD-Post. The steady-state simulation used the k-epsilon turbulence model with a pressure-based solver. Conjugate heat transfer was applied with a coupled pseudo-transient approach, including gravity, for natural convection. Humidity was excluded, focusing on heat transfer.
Findings
The results of the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis revealed that the mean surface temperature of the personal protective clothing was highest in Case 1 (30.9 °C), followed by Case 2 (29.8 °C) and Case 3 (28.8 °C). Correspondingly, the mean skin temperatures recorded were 33.5 °C, 31.6 °C and 31.0 °C for Cases 1, 2 and 3, respectively. These findings suggest that the use of protective clothing in enclosed environments may contribute to increased thermal stress on the human body. Notably, the CFD simulation results demonstrated strong agreement with empirical experimental data, thereby validating the reliability of the computational model.
Originality/value
Previous CFD studies simplified garment shapes. This study preserves actual geometry using a virtual program, reducing wrinkles and improving efficiency while minimizing modeling and meshing time.