The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the water-repellent properties of newly-developed combat uniforms using a rainfall tower system. Two types of water-repellent- combat uniforms with an identical level of water repellency through textile tests (WR_M and WR_T) were compared with an untreated-combat uniform (Control). A static manikin was used to evaluate water-repellent properties in a standing position and eight male subjects participated to test walking effects under artificial rainfall. The results showed that it took to saturate the upper body was longer for WR_T than WR_M and Control in the standing position for both normal and heavy rain conditions (P < 0.05). The lower body in WR_T was rarely wet in the standing position after 60 min, whereas the lower body was partially wet while walking within 30 min. Changes in clothing weight after the rainfall test were 729 ± 21, 256 ± 36 and 137 ± 25 g per trial for Control, WR_M, and WR_T, respectively (P < 0.001). Subjects expressed better tactile, less colder, less heavier, and less humid sensations and less uncomfortable feeling for WR_T than Control or WR_M (P < 0.05), while WR_M was better only for tactile sensation and heaviness than Control (P < 0.05). Ten-time-washes had not impaired the water-repellent properties of WR_M or WR_T. These results indicated that the rainfall tower test is valid to verify water-repellent property of clothing ensemble and suggest a possibility of classifying the water repellency of clothing ensemble into sub-levels of an excellent and a fair class. Further studies on wider range of experimental conditions to validate the current results are required.

中文翻译：

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雨塔系统下静态人体模型和人体防水作战服性能评价

本研究的目的是使用降雨塔系统评估新开发的战斗服的防水性能。通过纺织品测试（WR_M 和 WR_T）将两种类型的防水作战服（WR_M 和 WR_T）与未经处理的作战服（对照）进行了比较。静态人体模型用于评估站立姿势的防水性能，八名男性受试者参与测试人工降雨下的步行效果。结果表明，在正常和大雨条件下，WR_T 的上半身饱和时间比 WR_M 和 Control 的站立姿势更长（P < 0.05）。60 分钟后，WR_T 中的下半身在站立时很少湿，而在 30 分钟内行走时下半身部分湿。对于对照、WR_M 和 WR_T，每次试验后，降雨试验后衣服重量的变化分别为 729 ± 21、256 ± 36 和 137 ± 25 g（P < 0.001）。与对照组或 WR_M 相比，WR_T 的受试者表现出更好的触觉、更轻、更轻、更轻、更少潮湿的感觉以及更少的不舒服感（P < 0.05），而 WR_M 仅在触觉和沉重感方面优于对照组（P < 0.05）。洗涤 10 次并没有削弱 WR_M 或 WR_T 的防水性能。这些结果表明，雨塔试验可有效验证服装套装的防水性能，并提出了将服装套装的防水性分为优级和一般级的可能性。需要对更广泛的实验条件进行进一步研究以验证当前结果。