Proceedings of the ASME 2008 Summer Bioengineering Conference (SBC2008)

June 25-29, Marriott Resort, Marco Island, Florida, USA

SBC2008-192652

MODELING HEAT TRANSFER IN HUMAN ARM AND FOREARM:

EFFECT OF COUNTERCURRENT HEAT EXCHANGE AND SUPERFICIAL VEINS

Maurício S. Ferreira (1), Jurandir I. Yanagihara (2)

(1) Department of Mechanical Engineering (2) Department of Mechanical Engineering,

FEI (Fundação Educacional Inaciana) Polytechnic School - University of São Paulo,
Sao Bernardo do Campo, SP São Paulo, SP
Brazil Brazil

INTRODUCTION MODEL DESCRIPTION

In 1948, Pennes [1] presented a mathematical model of heat The blood circulation scheme is presented below and the heat
transfer in human tissue. The effect of blood flow on heat transfer was transfer model is briefly described afterwards.
modeled as heat sink or source whose magnitude is proportional to the
volumetric perfusion rate and difference between arterial and venous Blood Circulation
temperature [2]. Pennes assumed that thermal equilibrium occurs in The macro-circulation arrangement proposed (Fig. 1) is based on
the capillary beds, although Chen [3] showed that it occurs in bigger anatomical considerations [5,8] and is composed of vessels with
vessels before the blood enters the beds. Weinbaum et al. [2] and Zhu diameters larger than 1000 µm. For simplicity, only two superficial
et al. [4] studied the thermal effect of vessels in the range of 50 to veins were represented in Fig. 1.. The remaining vessels form the
1,000 µm on muscle tissue, and recognized the importance of micro-circulation, and are treated as part of a continuum (Fig. 2).
countercurrent heat exchange. Hirata et al. [5] showed that the heat
loss in the forearm is enhanced by the venous blood returning through
the superficial veins and that arterious-venous anastomoses (AVAs)
presented in the hands are important to thermoregulation.
Shitzer et al. [6] developed a human finger thermal model that
included countercurrent heat exchange between artery and vein. He et
al. [7] built an upper limb fluid-thermal model, but considered a
constant tissue temperature in the forearm and arm.
The purpose of this research is to investigate temperature
variations along blood vessels in the human arm and forearm with Figure 1. Macro-circulation scheme
diameters larger than 1,000 µm, and evaluate the importance of
superficial veins on the heat transfer between the forearm and the
environment. In order to achieve this objective, a mathematical model
was developed. It is composed of cylinders with homogenous physical
and physiological parameters representing the arm and forearm, and a
slab representing the hand. Heat conduction was considered in the
radial and axial directions, and a lumped analysis was applied to the
hand. Medium vessels were treated as discrete structures with
temperatures varying in the longitudinal direction - its arrangement
and position were based on anatomical considerations. Small vessels
were modeled on a continuum basis. Figure 2. Micro-circulation scheme

1 Copyright © 2008 by ASME

Heat Transfer Model In the forearm, superficial venous blood looses a small amount of
Applying a steady state energy balance around a cylindrical heat in its way back to the arm, contributing to the elevation of skin
differential element of tissue, the following equation is derived: surface temperature. In the arm, the opposite can be observed.
37,0
 1 ∂  ∂T  ∂ 2T 
k⋅ r  + 2  + q + wb ⋅ ρ b ⋅ cb ⋅ [Ta − T ] (1) o
arterial blood: ∆ T = - 0,6 C
to hand
 r ∂r  ∂r  ∂x  36,5

+ u at ⋅ [Ta − T ] + uvt ⋅ [Tv − T ] = 0 central axis

36,0

T ( C)
where the terms represent, respectively, radial and axial heat

o
conduction, metabolic heat generation rate, heat exchange with the 35,5
o
deep venous blood: ∆ T = 0,8 C
micro-circulation, heat transfer between an artery and the tissue, and
35,0
heat transfer between a vein and the tissue. The arteries and veins in
the macro-circulation were modeled as discrete structures that act like superficial venous blood
34,5
line heat sources or sinks whose intensity varies axially. skin surface
Countercurrent heat exchange between arteries and veins was
34,0
considered. The proposed model resembles another one [6], but differs 0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0
from it because the medium vessels are placed in specific locations. x/L
Thereby the global heat transfer coefficients, uat and uav, should be
Figure 4. Axial temperature profiles in the forearm
regarded as a function of radial coordinate (r). They were calculated
considering thermal resistances in series, representing heat transfer by
ACKOWLEDGMENTS
convection between blood and tissue, and conduction, based on shape
Authors would like to thank FAPESP (grant 02/04803-6), which
factors. On the cylinder surface it was considered heat transfer by
supported part of this work.
convection, radiation, and evaporation, the differential equations
describing the temperature profile in arteries and veins were obtained
REFERENCES
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37,0 Arterio-Venous Heat Exchange,” Journal of Biomechanical
o
arterial blood: ∆ T = - 0,2 C to forearm
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36,5
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36,0
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T ( C)

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o

o
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35,5
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35,0
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o
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Sciences, Vol. 46, pp. 371–384.

2 Copyright © 2008 by ASME