Improvement of sweating model in 2-Node Model and its application to thermal safety for hot environments

Recently, due to global warming and the heat-island effect, more and more people are exposed to the dangers of heat disorders. A hot thermal environment can be evaluated using various indices, such as new Standard Effective Temperature (SET.) using the 2-Node Model (2 NM), Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT), Predicted Heat Strain (PHS) model, and so on. The authors aim to develop a safety evaluation approach for hot environments. Subject experiments are performed in a laboratory to comprehend the physiological response of the human body. The results are compared with the computed values from the 2 NM and PHS models, and improved the sweating model in 2 NM in order to take into account the relationship with metabolic rate. A demonstration is provided of using the new sweating model for evaluating thermal safety in a hot environment. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.