IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v22y2025i8p1188-d1712720.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the Effects of Clothing Area Factor and Vapour Resistance on the Evaluation of Cold Environments via IREQ Model

Author

Listed:
  • Francesca Romana d’Ambrosio Alfano

    (DIIN—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II 132, 84084 Fisciano, Italy)

  • Kalev Kuklane

    (Dutch Academy for Crisis Management and Fire Service (NACB), Netherlands Institute for Public Safety (NIPV), P.O. Box 7112, NL-2701 AC Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
    Chair of Biosystems Engineering, Institute of Forestry and Engineering, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Fr. R. Kreutzwaldi 56, 51006 Tartu, Estonia)

  • Boris Igor Palella

    (DII—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Vincenzo Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy)

  • Giuseppe Riccio

    (DII—Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II, Piazzale Vincenzo Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy)

Abstract

The IREQ (Insulation REQuired) index is the only reliable and effective model for predicting and evaluating the protection given by a clothing ensemble in cold environments. Even with the growth of studies aimed at assessing the thermophysical characteristics of clothing, IREQ remained unaltered from Holmér’s original formulation four decades prior. This paper focuses on the effect of the evaluation of the clothing area factor and the resultant vapour resistance on the assessment of cold environments via IREQ. Obtained results reveal meaningful variations in the duration limit exposure (up to 5 h), whereas IREQ values remain unchanged. Observed phenomena could be interesting when discussing the revision of the ISO 11079 standard, which prescribes using IREQ for the determination and interpretation of cold stress.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Romana d’Ambrosio Alfano & Kalev Kuklane & Boris Igor Palella & Giuseppe Riccio, 2025. "On the Effects of Clothing Area Factor and Vapour Resistance on the Evaluation of Cold Environments via IREQ Model," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 22(8), pages 1-30, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:8:p:1188-:d:1712720
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/8/1188/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/8/1188/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:8:p:1188-:d:1712720. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.