Parametric Studies on the Three-Layer Microcirculatory Model for Surface Tissue Energy Exchange

The new three-layer microvascular mathematical model for surface tissue heat transfer developed in [1, 2], which is based on detailed vascular casts and tissue temperature measurements in the rabbit thigh, is used to investigate the thermal characteristics of surface tissue under a wide variety of physiological conditions. Studies are carried out to examine the effects of vascular configuration, arterial blood supply rate, distribution of capillary perfusion, cutaneous blood circulation and metabolic heat production on the average tissue temperature profile, the local arterial-venous blood temperature difference in the thermally significant counter-current vessels, and surface heat flux.