Analysis of a Nonlinear Heat conduction Model of the Human Head

Abstract

This research work is an account of the numerical analysis of a steady, one dimensional, spherically symmetric heat conduction equation modeling a simplified human head under the influence of environmental temperature variations. The governing energy balance equation together with the corresponding boundary conditions was transformed into dimensionless boundary value problem. The boundary value problem was solved numerically using fourth order Runge-kutta method with shooting technique. The results from the temperature profile revealed that the temperature of the human head is higher at the core and decreases transversely with minimum value towards the periphery. The effects of parameters like Biot number due to an increase in the rate of heat
transfer, thermogenesis heat production and metabolic thermogenesis slope production on the temperature of the human head are examined. The results of the study proved that there is a perfect agreement in the core temperature values of the present work using various parameter values when compared with the reports of previous findings in the literature