Abstract:
Understanding the intensity of burns resulting from different incidents is crucial for improving medical treatments and preventive measures. This study uses the bioheat transfer model to compare human skin's burning intensity due to hot dish, hot fluid, radiation, and flash fire, employing a bioheat transfer model to analyze and quantify burn intensity. The time‐dependent Pennes’ bioheat transfer equation is used as the governing equation and solved with appropriate boundary conditions using Galerkin's weighted residual scheme built‐in finite element method. The primary objective of this research is to solve the governing partial differential equation (three-dimensional) for the triple-layered human skin utilizing the finite element method (FEM), to analyze the burn effects on human skin from hot dish, hot fluid, radiation, and flash fire and to measure the burning intensity in terms of the degree of burn with the change of different thermal properties of the skin. The Arrhenius equation is used to calculate the damage fraction for the skin burn. The burn intensity in terms of degrees of burn (1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-degree) is measured using Henrique’s burn integral with different burning conditions, and their corresponding time is graphically shown. Six middle points are chosen from the bottom to the top of the considered physical model, maintaining each 1 mm gap along the height to find the local damage fraction. The numerical results are shown in terms of the volume temperature, slice plot of temperature, and volume plot of damage fraction. Line graph of local damage fraction and line graphs of different burn intensity against temperature and time for the considered four cases are shown. From the numerical results, it is observed that 1st-degree burns occur the fastest among the three; 2nd-degree burns require more time than 1st-degree, but less than 3rd-degree, and 3rd-degree burns require the longest time to occur. Also, the effect of a heating dish in direct contact with the skin is more severe than that of free-flowing hot fluid regarding burn injuries. The results from this analysis will help to understand human skin burns under different burning conditions and the treatment of varying burn injuries. This research also highlights the effectiveness of the bioheat transfer model in predicting burn outcomes, demonstrating its potential as a valuable tool in medical and safety engineering applications.