Determination of segmental and overall ventilation of clothed walking human by means of electric circuit analogy

Abstract

A new simplified model has been developed to determine the ventilation induced by swinging motion and external wind for a fabric clothed cylinder representing a limb or a trunk. The simplified model is based on an analogy between air flow and an electric circuit. When a clothed body segment is subject to external wind, the microclimate air flow electric circuit is represented by resistances. When the clothed segment is subject to a swinging motion, the air flow electric circuit is composed of inductance and resistance elements. The model is validated by comparing the predicted ventilation rates to published experimental data in different conditions: varying permeability, wind speeds, swinging frequencies (for the clothed arm), walking conditions, and aperture configurations. The predictions of the simplified model lie within the standard deviation range of the published experiments. Moreover, although it is simplified, the relative error between the simplified model and the published experiment of an oscillating limb is considered acceptable (18%). © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.