Impact assessment of load bearing vests, combat armour and ventilated vest configurations on thermal strain
conference paper
Dutch military personnel has access to a modular system of load bearing vests and combat armour that can be worn in combination with varying underlaying clothing. The equipment adds insulation and evaporative resistance, which may impact the environmental conditions that a military operation can be executed safely without risk of exertional heat stroke or other forms of heat illness. A ventilated vest worn under the load bearing vest may mitigate the heat burden. This study presents an assessment of the operational impact of load bearing vests and combat armour through measurements of thermal properties of clothing and equipment, combined with thermophysiological simulations. The insulation of the clothing and equipment configurations ranges between 0.68 clo and 1.03 clo; and the vapour permeability index ranges between 0.34 and 0.39. The impact of the equipment was larger on the warm climate clothing configuration than on the temperate clothing configuration. With inclusion of a ventilated vest worn under the load bearing vest the insulation ranges from 0.76 clo to 0.93 clo; and the vapour permeability index ranges between 0.41 and 0.46. The operational impact of the warm and temperate clothing
configurations shows on average a 2˚C difference in air temperature before core temperature reaches 38˚C, and corresponds to an extended duration limit of exposure up to 4 hours. Finally, the ventilated vest on average compensated the added insulation range by −1˚C for warm climate clothing and −2˚C for temperate clothing configurations
configurations shows on average a 2˚C difference in air temperature before core temperature reaches 38˚C, and corresponds to an extended duration limit of exposure up to 4 hours. Finally, the ventilated vest on average compensated the added insulation range by −1˚C for warm climate clothing and −2˚C for temperate clothing configurations
Topics
TNO Identifier
989128
Source title
Personal Armour Symposium PASS 2023, Dresden, Germany, 11-15 september 2023
Place of publication
Soesterberg
Pages
427-435
Files
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