Hot soup! Correlating the severity of liquid scald burns to fluid and biomedical properties

• We created a numerical model for skin burns using experimental data skin properties.
• The model is to determine the severity of burns.
• Fluid viscosity, temperature, heat transfer, and thermal capacity are important.
• It is unlikely that an accidental third degree burn would occur from a fluid spill.

Burns caused by hot drinks and soups can be both debilitating and costly, especially to pediatric and geriatric patients. This research is aimed at better understanding the fluid properties that can influence the severity of skin burns. We use a standard model which combines heat transfer and biomedical equations to predict burn severity. In particular, experimental data from a physical model serves as the input to our numerical model to determine the severity of scald burns as a consequence of actual fluid flows. This technique enables us to numerically predict the heat transfer from the hot soup into the skin, without the need to numerically estimate the complex fluid mechanics and thermodynamics of the potentially highly viscous and heterogeneous soup. While the temperature of the soup is obviously is the most important fact in determining the degree of burn, we also find that more viscous fluids result in more severe burns, as the slower flowing thicker fluids remain in contact with the skin for longer. Furthermore, other factors can also increase the severity of burn such as a higher initial fluid temperature, a greater fluid thermal conductivity, or a higher thermal capacity of the fluid. Our combined experimental and numerical investigation finds that for average skin properties a very viscous fluid at 100 °C, the fluid must be in contact with the skin for around 15–20 s to cause second degree burns, and more than 80 s to cause a third degree burn.