Multi-Node Human Thermoregulation Models for Clothing
topic
Multi-node thermoregulatory models represent the human body as a network of interconnected thermal compartments corresponding to body segments, each containing core and skin layers with defined thermal properties, metabolic heat generation rates, and blood flow connections that simulate the cardiovascular heat transport between body segments. Clothing is represented as one or more resistive layers on the skin surface of each body segment, with thermal and evaporative resistance values from standardised fabric testing providing the clothing input parameters. The models simulate transient thermoregulatory responses including peripheral vasoconstriction, vasodilation, sweating, and shivering as the control mechanisms that maintain core temperature homeostasis, predicting core temperature, skin temperature, and sweat rate evolution over time in defined clothing and activity scenarios.
Role
Multi-node thermoregulatory models provide the dynamic physiological simulation capability that steady-state comfort indices cannot deliver — predicting how core temperature evolves during transient exercise, environmental changes, and clothing system transitions that characterise real occupational and sporting scenarios, enabling the design of safe work duration protocols for protective clothing, the optimisation of layering systems for variable-intensity outdoor activities, and the investigation of individual physiological variation effects on clothing performance requirements.