Triple-layer Tissue Prediction for Cutaneous Skin Burn Injury: Analytical Solution and Parametric Analysis

Abstract

This paper demonstrates a non-Fourier prediction methodology of triple-layer human skin tissue for determining skin burn injury with non-ideal properties of tissue, metabolism and blood perfusion. The dual-phase lag (DPL) bioheat model is employed and solved using joint integral transform (JIT) through Laplace and Fourier transforms methods. 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 study demonstrates that the initial tissue temperature, the thermal conductivity of the epidermis and dermis, relaxation time, 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.