[Frontiers in Bioscience S2, 939-968, June 1, 2010]

Physiological modeling for technical, clinical and research applications

Dusan Fiala1,2, Agnes Psikuta3, Gerd Jendritzky4, Stefan Paulke5, David A. Nelson6, Wouter D. van Marken Lichtenbelt7, Arjan J.H. Frijns8

1ErgonSim, Comfort Energy Efficiency, Holderbuschweg 47, D-7056 Stuttgart, Germany, 2IBBTE, University of Stuttgart, Keplerstr. 11, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany,3Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing & Research, Laboratory for Protection and Physiology, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland, 4Meteorological Institute, University of Freiburg, Werthmannstr. 10, D-79085 Freiburg, Germany, 5P+Z Engineering GmbH, Anton-Ditt-Bogen 3, D-80939 Munich, Germany, 6Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Alabama, EGCB 212, 307 University Blvd N. Mobile, AL 36688-0002, USA, 7Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands,

8Department of Energy Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract
2. Introduction
3. FPC-model
3.1. Passive system
3.2. Active system
3.3. Thermal sensation
3.4. Model validation
4. Universal thermal climate index
4.1. Introduction
4.2. Model verification and validation
5. Thermophysiological human simulator for clothing research
5.1. Introduction
5.2. Human simulator development
5.3. Validation study
6. Thermal manikin applications within an automotive simulation software tool
6.1. Introduction
6.2. Thermal manikin integration
6.3. Thermal comfort assessment
7. High-resolution models of heat transfer and thermoregulation in humans
7.1. Introduction
7.2. High-resolution voxel models
7.3. Radio frequency radiation dosimetry
8. Modeling intra-operative temperature management
8.1. Introduction
8.2. Anesthesia
8.3. Forced air heating systems
8.4. Modeling body temperature during cardiac surgery
8.5. Model validation
9. Summary and conclusions
10. Acknowledgements

1. ABSTRACT

Various and disparate technical disciplines have identified a growing need for tools to predict human thermal and thermoregulatory responses to environmental heating and cooling and other thermal challenges such as anesthesia and non-ionizing radiation. In this contribution, a dynamic simulation model is presented and used to predict human thermophysiological and perceptual responses for different applications and situations. The multi-segmental, multi-layered mathematical model predicts body temperatures, thermoregulatory responses, and components of the environmental heat exchange in cold, moderate, as well as hot stress conditions. The incorporated comfort model uses physiological states of the human body to predict thermal sensation responses to steady state and transient conditions. Different validation studies involving climate-chamber physiological and thermal comfort experiments, exposures to uncontrolled outdoor weather conditions, extreme climatic and radiation asymmetry scenarios revealed the model to predict physiological and perceptual responses typically within the standard deviation of the experimental observations. Applications of the model in biometeorology, clothing research, the car industry, clinical and safety applications are presented and discussed.