Abstract:

Time prediction of burn injury was performed anming at lasting fire exposure, and the performance of the parameters of thermal protective clothing was investigated.The modeling and simulation method was used to predict the longest safety work time for the burn different degree. Firstly, for three-layer fabric materials (composed of an outer shell, a moisture barrier and a thermal liner), body skin and the air gap between the clothing and the skin, an improved heat transfer model together with boudary/initial conditions was presented in high temperature environments. Secondly, the presented model was applied to calculate the temperature on the fixed contact surface changing with time, and the numerical results were compared with the existing model under the same condition to verify the credibility of the model. Finally, the developed model was also used to predict the critical time to first-/second-/third-degree burn injury and to analysize the influence of air gap and textile thickness on the performance of thermal protective clothing. It is found that during the flash fire condition, the firefighters only have a dizen seconds to escape even wearing protective clothing, and the thichness of the air gap and the fabric play a significent influence of the performance of the clothing.

Key words: thermal protective clothing, heat transfer model, thermal protective performance, numerical dimulation, skin injury prediction