Modeling Exposures of a Nylon-Cotton Fabric to High Radiant Heat Flux

American soldiers and marines involved in the recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have suffered increased incidence of burn injury, often as a direct result of exposure to improvised explosive devices. In this work, a one dimensional numerical pyrolysis model for transient heat conduction, incorporating material transformations described by chemical kinetics, is used to investigate the response of the standard 230 g/m ² Army Combat Uniform (ACU) fabric to high radiant heat fluxes in short duration thermal protection tests and long duration cone calorimeter tests. Thermal protection tests are performed using a Thermal Barrier Test Apparatus–an automated device, incorporating a closed-loop controlled IR radiant heat source, automated water cooled shutter, a fabric sample holder, an adjustable stage with a water cooled Schmidt-Boelter heat flux gauge and a PC based data acquisition system. Cone calorimeter tests are performed on fabric specimens at an exposure heat flux of 25 kW/m ² . In thermal protection tests involving exposures of 90 kW/m ² for five seconds and 77 kW/m ² for four seconds, modeling indicated that desorption and evaporation of moisture content has an important effect, but melting of the nylon component and material decomposition had insignificant effects on the heat flux transmitted through the fabric back face. Modeling results for cone testing exhibited good agreement for time to ignition and duration of flaming combustion.