Predictions of human tolerance to cold water immersion while wearing advanced integrated garment ensembles with and without survival rafts or exogenous heating. Final report, April-September 1992
US Navy interest in garments providing integrated protection against chemical agents, hyperthermia, hypobaria, and hypothermia has led to fabrication of prototype multi-purpose garments. As part of the development process, these garments need to be tested for the protection they provide against these hazards. Mathematical modeling can be used to simulate the thermal protection provided by the various garment designs and minimize laboratory testing. It can also be used to establish guidelines on the amount of clothing insulation required to withstand exposures of various durations under conditions of thermal stress. This paper reports on the theoretical evaluation of hypothermia protection provided by various tactical aircrew garments during simulated head-out cold water immersion (CWI) using the Texas Human Thermal Model (10) (referred to THTM, below), as modified by the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division THTM for use with low CLO values (7). THTM can aid in clothing design by allowing specification of insulation values for up to fifteen body segments. This is an improvement over earlier work (8), in which researchers based their conclusions on an overall mean THTM value for garments. Also included in this paper is an algorithm to predict the effects of using open and closed survival rafts while wearing a CWU-62/P on rectal and mean skin temperature during survival scenarios. Lastly, THTM was used to predict the amount of exogenous heating required to survive 6 hour CWI while wearing CWU-27/P and CWU-62/P garment ensembles.
- Research Organization:
- Naval Air Warfare Center, Warminster, PA (United States). Aircraft Div.
- OSTI ID:
- 80544
- Report Number(s):
- AD-A-288683/6/XAB; NAWCADWAR-94125-60; TRN: 51991337
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 30 Dec 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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