NUMERICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BLOOD CIRCULATION AND PERIPHERAL TEMPERATURE

Abstract

Computational simulation of the thermal transport phenomena in the human body has recently aroused a great deal of interest among researchers, because it can be applied in different areas such as medicine, rehabilitation, space suits, and others. In this study, we developed a coupling model to analyze the temperature distribution of the human middle finger. Firstly, a one-dimensional thermo-fluid model of blood circulation in the human upper limb is constructed. Secondly, a two-dimensional thermal model of the human finger, which consists of skin, tendon, bone, main arteries, and veins is developed. The two models are further coupled weakly through data transfer. The blood pressure, blood flow rate, and blood temperature at different vessel sites and the tissue temperature are thus obtained. The effect of viscosity on the finger skin temperature was also investigated. Simultaneously, the thermograms of the human hand were also obtained using thermograpy under the resting condition and after jogging, to observe the variation in the blood circulation. The temperature at different points was extracted from the thermograms. It is observed that there is a periodic variation in skin temperature near the blood vessels after jogging. It is expected that this coupling model will be applicable to hyperthermia, drug delivery, and sports training.