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The air gaps underneath clothing have a great influence on the thermal regulation of the human body. The distribution of the air gaps depends on the shape of the human body as well as on clothing style, fit, and deformation properties. This paper reports on the influence of clothing fit on thermophysiological parameters of the human body through thermal simulation. Four different fits of jacket and a test person were considered for the investigation and for simulation purposes. The results of the simulation concluded that different thermal regulations of the human body were exhibited for different fits of the jacket, which is due to distinct air gaps between the human body and clothing for each fit of the jacket. This research work presents a fast method to predict the influence of clothing fit on thermal comfort, which is usually studied by a time-consuming, laborious method – the wear trial.

A stab resistant vest is a reinforced piece of body armour designed to resist knife or needle attacks of different energy levels specifically to the upper part of the body (chest and abdomen) to save lives. The majority of armours limit several comfort parameters, such as free locomotion, respiration, flexibility and light weight, which determine efficient use by wearers and their willingness to wear. Currently available armours are usually made of a single plate, and although often segmentation is used with just a few but still quite large pieces, the materials are compact and bulky to wear. In this study, stab protective armor elements (scale-like elements) of 3 mm thickness and 50 mm diameter were designed, produced (3D printed) and tested for performance. Aramid fibre was used for its strength, durability and process ability to develop protection elements at unidirectional and multidirectional filling angles during 3D printing. The specimens were tested according to VPAM KDIW 2004. The specimens designed and developed with multidirectional filling angles of aramid resist the puncturing energy level K1 (25 J) with a penetration depth less than the maximum allowed for the K1 energy level by VPAM. These specimens showed a high protection level of relative small thickness (3 mm) and light weight (6.57 grams for the estimated area A ≈ 1963.5 mm2) as compared to the currently certified armors for K1 (for example, the aluminum mass is 13.33 grams for 2 mm thickness and 50 mm diameter).

Results are presented from a study on the prediction of the insulation abilities of outerwear clothing for cold protection from the point of view of the thermophysiological comfort of the wearer. The Required Clothing Insulation (IREQ) index is used to simulate the abilities of 14 assemblies of layers designed for the production of winter jackets to protect the body in different cold environments. The calculations allow to assess the limits of applicability of the garments in terms of the thermophysiological comfort assured, the activities performed and the weather conditions. Discussions are presented on the correspondence between ISO11079:2007 and the online JavaScript code for calculation of IREQ based on it. The results predicted and their analysis have a practical use, as they allow to estimate the cold protection effectiveness of the textile layers used in an assembly at the design stage, thusgiving room for necessary changes depending on the conditions of its use.