Heat and mass transfer through thermal protective clothing – A review

Thermo-physiological comfort and safety of the people who are working as firefighter, industrial worker, military personnel and race car driver are major concerns. This led to the significant amount of research in the field of thermal protective clothing over the past several years. In this manuscript, a brief review of the research and development in the field of thermal protective clothing is presented and it primarily focusses the studies dealing with the heat and mass transfer aspects in thermal protective clothing. Experimental methods and standards used to analyze the performance of thermal protective clothing are discussed. Advancement in modeling of heat and mass transfer through porous fabrics are highlighted. Heat transfer modeling in air gaps between fabric and human skin as well as bio-heat transfer models used in the performance analysis of thermal protective clothing are also explained. Effect of various parameters like physical and thermo-physical properties of fabrics, air gap, moisture, exposure conditions on protective performance of fabrics are discussed. Recent trends in research in the field of thermal protective clothing are summarized along with suggestions for future research.