A COMSOL SIMULATION OF MICROSPHERE-BASED PASSIVE MATERIAL FOR LOW TEMPERATURE DIVING SUITS
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Authors
Oldenkamp, John A.
Subjects
diver
insulation
thermal
composite
material
microspheres
silicone
protection
divesuit
diving
safety
hypothermia
insulation
thermal
composite
material
microspheres
silicone
protection
divesuit
diving
safety
hypothermia
Advisors
Kartalov, Emil P.
Date of Issue
2018-09
Date
Publisher
Monterey, CA; Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The United States Navy conducts diving operations in various places and climates all over the world. The neoprene wet suit protects the diver from cold water temperatures, extending the duration the diver can stay in the water. Neoprene is a soft material made of air-foamed rubber that uses small, flexible air pockets to thermally insulate a diver from the cold. However, as the diver descends, increased ambient pressure compresses the neoprene, decreasing its thickness and shrinking its air pockets. As a result, the suit’s insulation capability significantly degrades with depth, adversely affecting diver operations and persistence time at depth. One potential solution is the use of rigid glass microspheres as the thermally insulating material, which should be impervious to pressure changes associated with diving depth. This thesis develops a model using COMSOL Multiphysics software that can be used to theoretically verify previous work and provide the framework for computer simulations to predict the thermal resistivity of various materials as a function of microsphere composition, steric distribution, and volumetric fraction within the carrier polymer.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Physics (PH)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Office of Naval Research
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.