Heat transfer model for firefighters' burn injury

Abstract

Burn injury is a common injury that can occur in firefighting. Personal protective clothing is used for protection against fire hazards and burn injuries. The purpose of this study is to assess the effectiveness of fire fighter’s personal protective clothing by utilizing heat transfer model in finite element analysis. The model used a 2 dimensional quarter circle geometry representing the human limb as it is the most common area for burn injury. The result shows skin temperature increases significantly with the heat flux intensity. Findings shows that the heat flux of 1200W/m2 causes skin temperature to be at 38.3oC. The initial skin temperature will gradually rise at t = 0 second and approaches it’s steady at t =198 seconds. The increment in air gap thickness reduces the heat stress effect. The reduction of 1 mm air gap thickness contributes to an increment of 0.2oC of the skin temperature.