ABSTRACT
Firefighters are usually exposed to extreme conditions, while facing their garments and body to high thermal fluxes, such as flash fires. To prevent burn injuries, it seems important to develop a predictive tool for skin temperature evolution. This paper presents a numerical method based upon experimental measurements of temperature histories within skin and fabric layers. The study is completed with a finite element investigation considering the blood perfusion rate within the skin, moreover, a focus has been made on the time prediction for the skin burn degrees, under several incoming heat fluxes, fabric thicknesses and exposure time. A new proposal is presented to predict the skin burn, depending on the fabric and air gap thickness for flash fires.
