Numerical Design of Experiment for Sensitivity Analysis—Application to Skin Burn Injury Prediction

Temperature evolution and skin burn process resulting from a laser radiation exposure are investigated in this paper. Transient temperature in skin is numerically estimated using a 1-D multilayered model based on Penne´s equation. The degree of burn injury is numerically evaluated by using an Arrhenius-type function. Unfortunately, most of the mathematical model parameters are not well defined in literature. Thus, a sensitivity analysis has been performed in order to evaluate the effect of each parameters inaccuracy on temperature estimation and on burn injuries prediction (according to several authors´ characterization). Investigated parameters uncertainties that crucially invalidate the thermal model are as follows: epidermis and dermis volumetric heat, extinction coefficient, and skin thickness of the affected area. Considering the damage prediction, the activation energy is a key parameter for the validation of an efficient predictive tool.