Numerical investigation of the human body skin temperature response using a radiative and convective heat transfer model

F. Beaumont, R. Taiar, H. Zaidi, E. Abdi, G. Polidori

Abstract: The focus of this study was on developing a human body heat transfer model to simulate skin temperature response in standard environmental conditions. The originality of this study relies on an innovative theoretical approach. This approach showed that human body can be thermally modelled by the sum of both radiative and free convective heat transfer functions. To achieve this, a three-dimensional non-isothermal model was used taking into account of heat transfer processes between the human body and its environment. The model was applied in a room temperature thermal environment. Temperatures along the skin surface were compared to infrared thermal maps in order to validate the model. Independent experiments have been used for this purpose allowing the acquisition of skin temperature maps. The thermal power dissipated by the human body was calculated and applied as a boundary condition to the computational model. The first numerical results were satisfactory with regards to the developed method which was able to correctly simulate the processes of heat transfer between the human body and its environment. Nevertheless, accurate predictions of skin temperature remain difficult because of the heterogeneity of the skin temperature response which is evidenced by experimental methods. Further research is however needed to refine and validate the thermal boundary conditions.

Series on Biomechanics, Vol.31, No.1 (2017), 27-34

Keywords: Infrared thermography; numerical; skin temperature

Date published: 2017-06-19