This paper examines the heat transfer in living skin tissue that is subjected to a convective heating. The tissue temperature evolution over time is classically described by the one-dimensional Pennes' bioheat transfer equation which is solved by applying Laplace transform method. The heat transfer analysis on skin tissue (dermis and epidermis) has only been studied defining the Biot number. The result shows that the temperature in skin tissue is less subject to the convected heating skin compared to constant skin temperature. The study also shows that the Biot number has a significant impact on the temperature distribution in the layer of living tissues. This study finds its application in thermal treatment.
The mechanism of the wave like behaviors of heat transfer in living tissues were studied through introducing a new concept of multi-mode energy coupling. A phenomenological thermal wave model of bioheat transfer was obtained. A new conceptual equation was proposed to correlate the heat flux with the temperature gradient, thus the intriguing high magnitude of the characteristic time in living tissues was better understood. A hypothesis was proposed for further testing the current theory. Numerical calculations were performed to study the temperature transients in the skin stratified as three layers with different thermal parameters. Deviations between the thermal wave model of bio-heat transfer and the Pennes' equation were studied for several typical transient bio-heat processes and the possible practical implications were discussed. A simple temperature criterion has been established to determine when the thermal wave propagation dominates the principal heat transfer process.
The mechanism of the wave like behaviors of heat transfer in living tissues were studied through introducing a new concept of multi-mode energy coupling. A phenomenological thermal wave model of bioheat transfer was obtained. A new conceptual equation was proposed to correlate the heat flux with the temperature gradient, thus the intriguing high magnitude of the characteristic time in living tissues was better understood. A hypothesis was proposed for further testing the current theory. Numerical calculations were performed to study the temperature transients in the skin stratified as three layers with different thermal parameters. Deviations between the thermal wave model of bio-heat transfer and the Pennes' equation were studied for several typical transient bio-heat processes and the possible practical implications were discussed. A simple temperature criterion has been established to determine when the thermal wave propagation dominates the principal heat transfer process.