Numerical Simulation of the Effects of Blood Perfusion, Water Diffusion, and Vaporization on the Skin Temperature and Burn Injuries

Abstract

Skin burn induced by thermal radiation or heat source is one of the common but severe, injuries in firefighting and some industry work exposed to intensive radiation. In this article, a multi-layer skin model on heat and mass transfer is presented article to investigate the effects of blood perfusion, water diffusion, and vaporization on tissue temperature and skin burn after removing the heat source. The numerical results of the model are in good agreement with previous experimental results. A parametric study is carried out to investigate the effects of skin geometrical and thermal parameters, and initial tissue temperature on skin temperature distribution and burn injuries after the removal of the heat source. The results show two-sided effects on tissue temperature, i.e., heat loss due to water vaporization and water diffusion can cool the epidermis; however, blood perfusion and water diffusion heat the subcutaneous tissue incurring skin damage. It is found that the epidermis and dermis thickness, the dermal and subcutaneous tissue thermal conductivity, and the subcutaneous tissue heat capacity have significant impact on tissue temperature and burn injuries, while the epidermis thermal conductivity, the epidermis and dermis heat capacity, the blooding perfusion rate, and the water diffusivity have little influence.