Modeling Burns for Pre-Cooled Skin Flame Exposure

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Thermal Hazard Analysis
• Skin Burn Research

Background:

• A television stunt involving a person exposed to kerosene flames highlighted potential burn risks.
• The assumption of adequate protection by a water film during flame exposure was questioned.
• Assessing the thermal impact on skin during such extreme heat exposure is crucial.

Purpose of the Study:

• To numerically model and analyze skin temperatures and burn damage during flame exposure following water spray pre-cooling.
• To evaluate the protective effectiveness of water spray pre-cooling under specific heat flux conditions.
• To identify critical factors influencing skin burn severity in high-heat flux environments.

Main Methods:

• Numerical modeling of skin temperature distribution throughout the entire process: pre-cooling, flame exposure, and cooling.
• Calculation of the associated damage integral based on skin temperature development.
• Parametric analysis of factors like water temperature, pre-cooling duration, and flame exposure time.

Main Results:

• 5°C water spray for 30 seconds provided sufficient pre-cooling to prevent severe injury under tested conditions.
• Complete evaporation of the water layer in certain areas led to direct skin-flame contact and increased burn damage.
• Higher water temperatures, shorter pre-cooling, or longer flame exposure significantly increased the burn damage integral.

Conclusions:

• Water spray pre-cooling is effective but can be compromised by complete evaporation, leading to severe burns.
• High heat flux, especially at the end of exposure, poses a significant danger.
• The analyzed flame stunt is extremely dangerous and should not be repeated due to the high risk of severe injury.