Calculation of Effective Thermal Conductivity for Human Skin Using the Fractal Monte Carlo Method

In this work, an effective thermal conductivity (ETC) for living tissues, which directly affects the energy transport process, is determined. The fractal scaling and Monte Carlo methods are used to describe the tissue as a porous medium, and blood is considered a Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluid for comparative and analytical purposes. The effect of the principal variables—such as fractal dimensions D_T and D_f, porosity, and the power-law index, n—on the temperature profiles as a function of time and tissue depth, for one-and three-layer tissues, besides temperature distribution, are presented. ETC was improved by considering high tissue porosity, low tortuosity, and shear-thinning fluids. In three-layer tissues with different porosities, perfusion with a non-Newtonian fluid contributes to the understanding of the heat transfer process in some parts of the human body.