Improvement and Validation of the Tanabe Model for Controlling Thermal Manikins Simulated in Hot Environments at High Altitudes

Abstract

Exposure to hypobaric and hyperthermic environments can easily induce heat stress and affect operational efficiency. Thermal manikins represent advanced instruments for simulating human thermal behaviors in complex ambient conditions. However, currently, no thermal manikins are coupled with a human thermoregulatory model adapted for high-altitude environments. This study aimed to develop the traditional Tanabe model by incorporating air pressure into the calculation of the convective and evaporative heat transfer coefficients, therefore local skin temperature and thermal comfort at high altitudes could be predicted. To validate the model, these predicted variables were also measured in human thermal physiology experiments at the altitude of 0m (101.3kPa) and 4000m (56.04kPa) with an ambient temperature of 35°C. The results demonstrated that local and weighted average skin temperatures were consistent between simulation and experimental results, while Gaussian distribution and linear relations were observed between the weighted average skin temperature and PMV scores at the altitude of 0m and 4000m. These findings suggest that differences in skin temperature and thermal comfort at different altitudes are influenced by variations in evaporation and dry heat exchanges. The improved Tanabe model in this study was validated and could be further utilized in developing control algorithms for thermal manikins.

Keywords: Tanabe model, Local skin temperature, High altitude, Thermal comfort, Thermal manikin