Prediction of skin burn injury. Part 1: Numerical modelling

Abstract

Skin burn injury and heat tolerance in man is a complex interaction of physical heat exchange processes and the potential for physiological adjustments. In recently developed one-dimensional finite difference and two-dimensional finite element bioheat transfer based numerical models of the skin, the prediction of the thermal efficacy of cooling treatment was evaluated. With the use of a standard Arrhenius model for damage rate, the extent of burn injury was computed from the transient temperature solution. Simulated isotherms results for current models were found to be consistent in both one- (experimental) and two-dimensional (analytical) data. The two-dimensional code provided some additional precision to previously published models. This was due to the mesh-independent grid which enabled more accurate numerical prediction of thermal and injury patterns as they developed during the injury process. Numerical data obtained in the current study suggest that non-thermal factors must be considered in the calculation of the efficacy of postburn cooling therapy. However, when dealing with living tissue, any numerical model can provide only an approximation to conditions in real exposures. Together with analysis of variance, the models were used for investigating the precedence of the various parameters and the effects of varying these parameters on assessment of burn injury resulting from exposure of skin surface to heat sources (Part 2).