Integral simulation of the human thermal system.

In this work a numerical model that permits to simulate the human body thermal system is presented. This computational model is based on the integral energy balance equation for the human body tissue, arterial and venous blood and mass balance equation for the blood. In the simulation of the human body, which is divided in 105 nodes, the following phenomena are considered: heat conduction through the tissue, heat exchange by radiation between the external tissue and the surrounding surface, internal metabolism, heat loss by evaporation and respiration, blood circulatory convection and heat exchange by convection between the external tissue and the environment. It was used a thermoregulation model to control the body temperature. The model reproduced well the experimental data and can be used to predict thermal comfort conditions and local discomfort in subjects inside an acclimated environment.