title: The relationship between air layers and evaporative resistance of male Chinese ethnic clothing.
abstract: In this study, the air layer distribution and evaporative resistances of 39 sets of male Chinese ethnic clothing were investigated using a sweating thermal manikin and the three-dimensional (3D) body scanning technique. Relationships between the evaporative resistance and air layers (i.e., air gap thickness and air volume) were explored. The results demonstrated that the clothing total evaporative resistance increases with the increasing air gap size/air volume, but the rate of increase gradually decreases as the mean air gap size or the total air volume becomes larger. The clothing total evaporative resistance reaches its maximum when the average air gap size and the total air volume are 41.6 mm and 69.9 dm(3), respectively. Similar general trends were also found between local mean air gap size and clothing local evaporative resistance at different body parts. However, different body parts show varied rates of increase and decrease in the local evaporative resistance. The research findings provide a comprehensive database for predicting overall and local human thermal comfort while wearing male Chinese ethnic clothing.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Clothing Physiology and Ergonomics (LCPE), The National Engineering Laboratory for Modern Silk, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China; Department of Apparel Design and Engineering, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China. Electronic address: dr.famingwang@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Faming
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Apparel Design and Engineering, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Apparel Design and Engineering, College of Textile and Clothing Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215021, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000388:Air; D001415:Back; D002681:China; D003020:Clothing; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D035002:Lower Extremity; D008297:Male; D008348:Manikins; D008422:Materials Testing; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010388:Pelvis; D010539:Permeability; D013546:Sweating; D013696:Temperature; D034941:Upper Extremity; D014835:Volatilization
keywords: Air gap; Air volume; Local evaporative resistance; Non-western clothing; Thermal manikin