Citation

Gašperin M, Juričič D, Musizza B, Mekjavič I. ISA Trans. 2008; 47(2): 198-210.

Affiliation

Jožef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Instrument Society of America, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.isatra.2007.12.003

PMID

18262527

Abstract

High-quality protective garments are essential in many occupational assignments, e.g., in the petrochemical industry and for firefighting. The problem addressed in this paper is how to objectively asses the performance of protective garments designed to resist fire. We present a system based on a flame mannequin equipped with an array of temperature sensors that provide information about the temperature on the mannequin's surface during exposure to fire. Particular attention is devoted to reconstructing the heat flux reaching the mannequin's surface on the basis of the available temperature records (the inverse heat-conduction problem). The estimated heat flux is used in a skin-simulation model to predict the level of injury that would occur in human exposed to the same heat. The paper includes a novel computational procedure based on a detailed model of the temperature sensor and a numerical solution of the accompanying heat equation. The effectiveness of the solution is demonstrated with experimental data.

Language: en