Whole-Body Human Thermal Modeling, an Alternative to Immersion in Cold Water and Other Unpleasant Endeavors

Abstract

Analysis of heat transfer in the human involves different scales ranging from countercurrent heat transfer between small arteries and veins to the whole-body, which is the principal subject of this paper. Important applications of whole-body human thermal models are predicting comfort under various conditions, such as riding in an air-conditioned automobile on a hot day, and predicting the probability of survival under life-threatening conditions, such as accidental immersion is cold water. This paper is arranged in three parts. In the first part, the evolution of human thermal models is discussed. Then, aspects of human physiology fundamental to thermoregulation are discussed, and finally we discuss a practical application derived from an Arctic survival project with which the author is involved.