Sensitivity analysis of burns integrals

Abstract

In the paper the numerical analysis of thermal processes proceeding in the domain of biological tissue subjected to an external heat source is presented. Heat transfer in the skin tissue was assumed to be transient and two-dimensional. The bioheat transfer in the domain considered is described by the system of Pennes equations determining the temperature field in successive skin layers. Between the layers the ideal contact is assumed. On the selected part of skin surface the Neumann condition determining the value of external heat source is given, on the conventionally assumed internal surface of the tissue the no-flux condition is accepted. For time t =0 the initial distribution of temperature is known. The degree of the skin burn can be predicted on the basis of the so-called Henriques integrals and the main subject of the paper is the sensitivity analysis of these integrals with respect to the skin parameters. On the stage of numerical computations the boundary element method has been used. In the final part of the paper the results obtained are shown.