Modelling thermal resistance of woven fabrics in wet state

In this study, a simple mathematical model based on conductive heat transfer is suggested for predicting the thermal resistance of wet woven fabric. For this purpose, cellulosic fabrics produced in two different weave types with different moisture content were investigated. Fabric is considered a system of a porous structure consisting of fibre, air and if present, water. The thermal resistance of fabric was calculated according to the proportion of these components. It was considered that the water’s location could have changed the resistance values. The assumption was the capillary water was arranged serially with fibres and air when it was located in the yarns, and it was arranged parallel with the air when it was located between the yarns. Calculated values were compared with the measurement values obtained from ALAMBETA. When the results were evaluated, the obtained values were quite good except for the absolute dry fabric. Serial arrangement of fibre and air was better fitted for dry fabric. So, it is thought that the air acts as a single block in absolute dry fabrics. Additionally, for comparison, Maxwell-Eucken2 (ME-2) was also used. The new model’s R2 value is a little higher than the other model as 0.9017. Furthermore, MSSD and MSAD values were 0.0000013 and 0.0007878 for this model, respectively. As a result of the study, it can be said that the suggested model is useful for predicting the thermal resistance of woven fabrics with different moisture content. Besides this, analyses of fabric porosity can be useful to manage the thermal resistance of wet fabrics.