Model-Based Design of a Steam/Heat Fabric Test Apparatus

Conditions of convective heat and steam pose serious threats to Navy fire fightingand damage control personnel, but the only test environments available for testingof protective clothing for such conditions are large and very costly to use. Theproposed convective heat and steam test apparatus will enable rapid and low-costevaluation of candidate fabric samples in the laboratory. The apparatus will bedesigned using unique computational models for fluid flow and heat and mass transferthrough textiles. The resulting equipment will be compact, accurate, repeatable,easy to use, and include its own data acquisition system. During Phase I, acomprehensive design for the complete test apparatus will be developed. In Phase II,a prototype apparatus will be constructed and tested. The proposed test apparatus will enable the Navy, other military services, andothers in government and industry to quickly and inexpensively evaluate theprotective characteristics of candidate textiles for fire fighting andsteam-protective ensembles. The result will be lower development costs andimproved protective clothing that better protects wearer against burns whilereducing development and acquisition cost.