Thermal Analysis Complementary to Standardized Experimental Dosimetry of SAR in Human Head

Cellular phones (CPs) intensive, long-term usage may raise concerns regarding collateral effects such as hyperthermia through direct exposure to electromagnetic field, and direct thermal contact to the outer ear.Among other methods used to evaluate the thermal menace posed by CPs, the physical experiments, conducted on equivalent phantoms play an important role. Replacing the head content with biologically-equivalent fluid is considered to provide for satisfactory experimental conditions with the aim to assess realistic "specific energy absorption rate" (SAR) levels and the pending thermal load. Moreover, numerical experiments may complement physical experiments, strengthening the predictive consistency of this already standardized lab approach.A numerical model of the human head and radiation source is designed and validated in compliance with experimental electromagnetic dosimetry standards with the aim of extending and processing useful information from limited experimental output. The current study goes further by exploring the heat absorption from the CP used nearby the head, making use of numerical simulation of the coupled electromagnetic and thermal problems, applied on models with varying degrees of realism. The analysis presented here concentrates on the assessment of cumulative contributions - energy absorption through SAR and direct contact with the heated CP device - on raising the temperature in the exposed head. Heating is analyzed and evaluated both by identifying the hot spots and by quantifying the average heating of anatomical sub-domains.