Prediction of the water evaporation rate of wet textile materials in a pre-defined environment

Purpose The water evaporation rate (WER) is not only crucial for fabric drying, but also an important parameter affecting cooling from a body wearing sweat wetted clothing. The purpose of this paper is to predict the WERs of wet textile materials in a pre-defined environment. Design/methodology/approach The maximum water evaporation rate (WERmax) from a saturated surface in a pre-defined environment was first predicted based on the Lewis relationship between the evaporative and the convective heat transfer in this paper. The prediction results were validated by the comparisons with experimental measurements in various environments obtained in this paper and reported in the literature. Findings Experiment results show that the ratios of WERs to WERmax are lower than 100 percent but higher than 50 percent, which confirmed that the prediction of WERmax is reliable. The temperature decrease of the wet material surface due to evaporation was considered to account for the difference between measured WERs and the WERmax, and the WER variation among materials. The lower ratios of WERs to WERmax in the higher wind condition were speculated to be due to the greater temperature decrease caused by the increased evaporation. Practical implications It provides a reliable way to obtain both WERmax and WER (WERmax multiplied by a proper ratio), which can be useful in clothing physiological modeling to predict clothing comfort. Originality/value This study contributes to the understanding of the evaporation process of textile materials.