The thermal, evaporative and wicking properties of clothing depend not only on the properties of the fabric but also on the thickness of air layers and the magnitude of the contact area and their variation. The aim of this study was to accurately determine the contact area and the air gap thickness between clothing and the human body in detail. These parameters were measured for a range of typical patterns of garments (tight- and loose fitting) covering either the upper or lower body and made of various types of fabrics (knitted and woven). The method consisted of imposing three-dimensional scans of the nude and dressed manikin and determining the distance between their surfaces by advanced three-dimensional scan post-processing. Due to this method the distribution of the air gap thickness and the contact area over body parts was obtained and this knowledge can be applied in models of heat and mass transfer in the clothing.
The heat and mass transfer in clothing is affected by the distribution of the air gap thickness and the contact area and this, in turn, results from the interaction between the geometrically complex shape of the human body, garment design, and fabric mechanical properties. In this study, the distribution of the air gap thickness and the contact area in typical shirts and undershirts were investigated using the three-dimensional scanning technique in relation to the garment style and fit, fabric properties, and body regions. This study showed that at the upper trunk the air gap thickness was unaffected by both the garment style and the fit, whereas the shape of the contact area was changed only by the fit. At the lower body the air gap thickness and the contact area changed proportionally with the increase of the ease allowances in the garments. As expected, larger air gaps were formed in shirts but larger contact areas were observed in undershirts. Consequently, results indicated the possibility of modeling the size of air layers in clothing by proper selection of the fabric type and ease allowances in clothing for a given body shape.Keywords air gap thickness, contact area, three-dimensional body scanning, heat and mass transfer in clothingThe thermal, evaporative, and wicking processes in a clothing system are related to the human thermoregulatory response under the given conditions and depend on the factors associated with the fabric properties and construction of the garment. The intensity of the heat and moisture transfer within the clothing ensemble results mainly from the temperature gradient and liquid concentration in the clothing system, which are influenced by the temporal and spatial change in the thickness of the air layers adjacent to the outer surface of the garment or enclosed in between clothing layers and between skin and clothing layers. In the steady-state conditions a layer of still air acts as a thermal insulator, better than textiles, owing to its lower thermal conductivity (e.g. thermal conductivity of air of 0.026 W/mÁK compared to leather and cotton of 0.060 and 0.159 W/mÁK, respectively 1 ). In the case that the air gap thickness exceeds about 8-13 mm, natural convection can take place that additionally intensifies heat and vapor exchange within the clothing system. 2 Furthermore, the direct exchange of moisture can occur provided that the surfaces of the skin and the clothing adjoin. Owing to the wicking effect, moisture can be distributed laterally over the larger area 3,4 and, hence, can effectively add to the heat loss from the skin by increased thermal conductivity of the fabric 5-7 and the evaporation of moisture from the clothing surface. Therefore, it is important to jointly consider the air gap thickness and the contact area for a realistic simulation of dry heat transfer, evaporation, condensation, sorption, and vapor and liquid moisture
The heat and water vapor transport in clothing results from fabric properties, air layers enclosed in the garment and environmental conditions. Accumulation of moisture in clothing layers intensifies this transport because of the change in thermal properties of wet fabrics and the size of air gap thickness and the contact area. This paper presents distribution of air gaps and contact areas in relation to various moisture contents in typical undershirts confectioned from fabrics with contrasting affinity to moisture. The effect of the undershirt fit, body region, fabric structure and fiber type is also discussed. The air gap thickness and the contact area were determined using three-dimensional scanning and the post-processing technique. The results show that the influence of the moisture content on the sought parameters noticeably varied among body regions and was related to the regional fit of the clothing. This variation was larger in cotton than polyester undershirts or those containing spandex, but the direct relevance of the fabric structure was not clear. Although influence of the moisture content was found, the magnitude of the air gap thickness and the contact area resulted mainly from the garment fit.
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