HEAT FLUX SENSOR FOR VULNERABILITY TESTING

A SENSOR CAPABLE OF MEASURING THE HEAT FLUX HISTORY RECEIVED BY SIMULATED TROOP PERSONNEL DURING WEAPON SYSTEM VULNERABILITY TESTS WILL BE DEVELOPED. THE PURPOSE OF THE SENSOR IS TO DETERMINE THE VULNERABILITY OF PERSONNEL OCCUPYING THE WEAPON SYSTEM TO BURNS. TO COVER THE WIDE DYNAMIC RANGE OF HEAT FLUX HISTORIES THAT CAN CAUSE BURNING, A GAGE USING TWO SEPARATE CALORIMETER ELEMENTS IS PROPOSED. THE CALORIMETERS WILL BE BASED ON THE SCHMIDT-BOELTER CONCEPT FOR THE LOWER RANGE - LONGER DURATION HEATING RATES, AND THE GARDON PRINCIPLE, FOR HIGHER HEATING RATES. TO MAINTAIN THE GAGE SURFACE TEMPERATURE AT LEVELS REPRESENTATIVE OF THE THERMAL RESPONSE OF HUMAN FLESH, THE GAGE WILL INCORPORATE A SELF-CONTAINED COOLING UNIT. THE METHODS USED TO CALIBRATE THE GAGE IN THE FIELD AND INTERPRET THE OUTPUT ALSO WILL BE DEVELOPED.