Numerical investigation of skin and subcutaneous tissue thermal injury during elevated heating

This paper presents the non-Fourier bioheat transfer prediction methodology of human skin to determine skin burn injury with non-ideal properties of tissue, metabolism and blood perfusion. The dual-phase lag bioheat transfer model with the inclusion of evaporation is developed for the triple-layer skin tissues. The developed models are solved numerically using Galerkin's finite element method. Parametric studies on the effects of skin tissue properties, initial temperature, blood perfusion rate and heat transfer parameters for the thermal response and exposure time of the layers of the skin tissue are carried out. The results of the investigation are compared with experimental results in the literature. The study demonstrates that the initial tissue temperature, the thermal conductivity of the epidermis and dermis, relaxation and thermalisation time and convective heat transfer coefficient are critical parameters to examine skin burn injury threshold. The study also shows that thermal conductivity and the blood perfusion rate exhibits negligible effects on the burn injury threshold. The objective of the present study is to support the accurate quantification and assessment of skin burn injury for reliable experimentation, design and optimisation of thermal therapy delivery.