Advances in laser, microwave, and similar technologies have led to recent developments of thermal treatments for disease and injury involving skin tissue. In spite of the widespread use of heating therapies in dermatology, they do not draw upon the detailed understanding of the biothermomechanics of behavior, for none exists to date, even though each behavioral facet is well established and understood. It is proposed that a detailed understanding of the coupled biological-mechanical response under thermal agitation will contribute to the design, characterization, and optimization of strategies for delivering better treatment. For a comprehensive understanding on the underlying mechanisms of thermomechanical behavior of skin tissue, recent progress on bioheat transfer, thermal damage, thermomechanics, and thermal pain should be systematically reviewed. This article focuses on the transfer of heat through skin tissue. Experimental study, theoretical analysis, and numerical modeling of skin thermal behavior are reviewed, with theoretical analysis carried out and closed-form solutions obtained for simple one-layer Fourier theory based model. Non-Fourier bioheat transfer models for skin tissue are discussed, and various skin cooling technologies summarized. Finally, the predictive capacity of various heat transfer models is demonstrated with selected case studies.
Skip Nav Destination
e-mail: tjlu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Article navigation
September 2009
Review Articles
Mathematical Modeling of Skin Bioheat Transfer
F. Xu,
F. Xu
Department of Engineering,
Cambridge University
, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK; Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
, Cambridge, MA 02139
Feng Xu is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Harvard-MIT HST. He received a Ph.D. on Bioengineering at Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED) and was a member of Queens’ College. Dr. Xu’s research interests include Regenerative medicine using cell patterning, biothermomechanics, and multiphase flow and heat transfer. With financial support from the Overseas Research Studentship (ORS) and Overseas Trust Scholarship of Cambridge University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National 111 Project of China, and the National Basic Research Program of China, Dr. Xu has published over 30 academic papers in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences.
Search for other works by this author on:
T. J. Lu,
T. J. Lu
MOE Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration,
e-mail: tjlu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
Xi’an Jiaotong University
, Xi’an 710049, P.R. China
Search for other works by this author on:
K. A. Seffen,
K. A. Seffen
Department of Engineering,
Cambridge University
, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
Keith Seffen is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering in the Structures Group at Cambridge University Engineering Department. His interests lie in the general application of structural mechanics to a wide range of problems, including bio-engineering and morphing structures. He was previously a Lecturer in the Applied Mechanics Division at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UMIST. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1997 and a first-class degree (BA with honors) in engineering in 1993, both from Cambridge University. He is a Northern Irish by extraction.
Search for other works by this author on:
E. Y. K. Ng
E. Y. K. Ng
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
Nanyang Technological University
, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore, Singapore
Eddie Y. K. Ng received Ph.D. at Cambridge University with a Cambridge Commonwealth Scholarship. His main area of research is thermal imaging, human physiology, biomedical engineering; computational turbomachinery aerodynamics, microscale cooling problems, and CFD-CHT. He is an Associate Professor in NTU. He has published more than 285 papers in refereed international journals (170), international conference proceedings (70), books (4), textbook chapters (18), and others over the years. Currently he is an Editor for several journals such as CFDJ, IJRM, JMMB, JBiSE, ONMJ, CMJ, etc. (see URL: http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/mykng).
Search for other works by this author on:
F. Xu
Feng Xu is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Harvard Medical School and Harvard-MIT HST. He received a Ph.D. on Bioengineering at Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED) and was a member of Queens’ College. Dr. Xu’s research interests include Regenerative medicine using cell patterning, biothermomechanics, and multiphase flow and heat transfer. With financial support from the Overseas Research Studentship (ORS) and Overseas Trust Scholarship of Cambridge University, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National 111 Project of China, and the National Basic Research Program of China, Dr. Xu has published over 30 academic papers in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences.
Department of Engineering,
Cambridge University
, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK; Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
, Cambridge, MA 02139
T. J. Lu
MOE Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration,
Xi’an Jiaotong University
, Xi’an 710049, P.R. Chinae-mail: tjlu@mail.xjtu.edu.cn
K. A. Seffen
Keith Seffen is a Senior Lecturer in Engineering in the Structures Group at Cambridge University Engineering Department. His interests lie in the general application of structural mechanics to a wide range of problems, including bio-engineering and morphing structures. He was previously a Lecturer in the Applied Mechanics Division at the Department of Mechanical Engineering at UMIST. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1997 and a first-class degree (BA with honors) in engineering in 1993, both from Cambridge University. He is a Northern Irish by extraction.
Department of Engineering,
Cambridge University
, Cambridge CB2 1PZ, UK
E. Y. K. Ng
Eddie Y. K. Ng received Ph.D. at Cambridge University with a Cambridge Commonwealth Scholarship. His main area of research is thermal imaging, human physiology, biomedical engineering; computational turbomachinery aerodynamics, microscale cooling problems, and CFD-CHT. He is an Associate Professor in NTU. He has published more than 285 papers in refereed international journals (170), international conference proceedings (70), books (4), textbook chapters (18), and others over the years. Currently he is an Editor for several journals such as CFDJ, IJRM, JMMB, JBiSE, ONMJ, CMJ, etc. (see URL: http://www3.ntu.edu.sg/home/mykng).
School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering,
Nanyang Technological University
, 50 Nanyang Avenue, 639798 Singapore, SingaporeAppl. Mech. Rev. Sep 2009, 62(5): 050801 (35 pages)
Published Online: July 9, 2009
Article history
Received:
March 4, 2008
Revised:
February 14, 2009
Published:
July 9, 2009
Citation
Xu, F., Lu, T. J., Seffen, K. A., and Ng, E. Y. K. (July 9, 2009). "Mathematical Modeling of Skin Bioheat Transfer." ASME. Appl. Mech. Rev. September 2009; 62(5): 050801. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.3124646
Download citation file:
Get Email Alerts
Related Articles
Analytical Study on Bioheat Transfer Problems with Spatial or Transient Heating on Skin Surface or Inside Biological Bodies
J Biomech Eng (December,2002)
An Archive of Skin-Layer Thicknesses and Properties and Calculations of Scald Burns With Comparisons to Experimental Observations
J. Thermal Sci. Eng. Appl (March,2011)
Modeling the Thermal Responses of the Skin Surface During Hand-Object Interactions
J Biomech Eng (April,2008)
Numerical and Experimental Simulations as Symbiotic Tools for Solving Complex Biothermal Problems
J. Med. Devices (June,2010)
Related Proceedings Papers
Related Chapters
Human Thermal Comfort
Electromagnetic Waves and Heat Transfer: Sensitivites to Governing Variables in Everyday Life
Sunscreen or Smokescreen?
Hot Air Rises and Heat Sinks: Everything You Know about Cooling Electronics Is Wrong
Age-Related Skin Research Based on Roughness and Entropy of Human Skin Image
International Conference on Instrumentation, Measurement, Circuits and Systems (ICIMCS 2011)