Apparent evaporative resistance at critical conditions for five clothing ensembles

A limiting factor for clothing ensembles inherent during heat stress exposures is the evaporative resistance, which can be used to compare candidate ensembles and in rational models of heat exchange. In this study, the apparent total evaporative resistance of five clothing ensembles (cotton work clothes, cotton coveralls, and coveralls made of Tyvek ® 1424 and 1427, NexGen ® and Tychem QC ® ) was estimated empirically from wear trials using a progressive heat stress protocol and from clothing insulation adjustments based on ISO 9920 ( 2007 ) and wetness. The metabolic rate was moderate at 165 W m −2 and relative humidity was held at 50%. Twenty-nine heat-acclimated participants (20 men and 9 women) completed trials for all clothing ensembles. A general linear mixed effects model (ensemble and participants as a random effect) was used to analyze the data. Significant differences ( p