The work presented in this thesis is devoted to further understanding heat transfer through clothing under different circumstances, in order to provide guidelines for the design and construction of clothing with regard to thermal comfort. In one part of this work, studies were concentrated on the clothing thermal insulation in windy conditions. In this part, a newly designed cylindrical togmeter and a theoretical model have been developed. The numerical solution derived from the theoretical model agrees well with the experimental findings from the cylindrical togmeter in a wind tunnel. The heat transfer mechanisms involved in the wind induced reduction of clothing thermal insulation have been better understood by examining the experimental and theoretical results. The effects of wind velocity, air permeability and stiffness of the outer fabrics, air permeability and thickness of the inner fibrous battings, and the dimensions of the human body on the clothing thermal insulation have also been examined and discussed. Furthermore, based on the understanding of the mechanism of air penetration into permeable clothing assemblies, methods have been proposed for the design and construction of wind resistant protective clothing by using permeable outer fabrics. These methods were evaluated on the cylindrical togmeter and are believed to have important practical values. The other part of this work was focused on the development and laboratory use of a fabric manikin. The "skin" of the manikin was made of coated water-proof fabric, and heated water was circulated inside the "body". The arms and legs of the manikin could be moved to simulate walking. The manikin was very cheap to construct when compared with that of a copper manikin and can be widely applied for routine tests for outdoor and military garments subject to some modifications in its design. With this fabric manikin, a series of experiments have been conducted to investigate the effects of body motion, clothing design and environmental conditions on the thermal insulation of clothing. Some useful information for the design of functional clothing and for the prediction of the thermal stress of a clothed person in different environmental conditions has been provided through this investigation.

The aim of this thesis is to investigate to what extent regulated office clothing affects the perception and adaptation of office workers to the thermal conditions surrounding their work environments, focusing on the city of Enugu in South Eastern Nigeria which has hot humid climatic conditions. Clothing, regarded as a second skin, allows us to adapt or adjust to the thermal conditions in our immediate surrounding environment. It also affects our perception of the thermal environment. In some offices however employees are expected to wear regulated clothing or uniforms, during the working day; for various corporate identity reasons. Field studies were undertaken in office spaces in Enugu involving the behavioural and environmental analysis of thermal comfort conditions in six typical case study office spaces, at the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) and Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC). The thesis adopted a mixed‐mode methodological process; combining a quantitative and qualitative approach to data collection and analysis. The field research analysis found that all office spaces analysed were in compliance with the adaptive thermal comfort component of the ASHRAE Standard 55‐2013. The results however did not comply with the adaptive thermal comfort of CEN/EN 15251‐2007. The thermal sensation component of the results suggests a neutral temperature of 28.80C, with 80% thermal satisfaction, in a comfort range of between 25.40C and 32.20C. The thermal comfort vote indicates that approximately 85% of office workers with flexible clothing policy were comfortable at that comfort range, whilst only 55% of workers who had to adhere to a strict uniform policy voted that they were comfortable. The key research findings were: Firstly, the field observations and semi-structured interviews undertaken indicated that the strict uniform policy of FRSC office workers contributed substantially to the limited adaptation of staff to their workspace thermal conditions. Also, of all the thermal variables recorded during the field survey, clothing insulation had the strongest correlations to the thermal sensation of participants in the survey compared to indoor operative temperature, outdoor air temperature, relative humidity or metabolic rate. Furthermore, it is possible for workers in naturally ventilated office buildings in the hot humid climate zone of Enugu to achieve thermal comfort in higher temperature conditions through clothing adaptation.