Numerical study on freezing-thawing phase change heat transfer in biological tissue embedded with two cryoprobes

Abstract

A two-dimensional model for freezing and thawing phase change heat transfer in biological tissue embedded with two cryoprobes was established. In this model, the blood vessels were considered as tree-like branched fractal network, and the effective flow rate and effective thermal conductivity of blood were obtained by fractal method. The temperature distribution and ice crystal growth process in biological tissue embedded with two cryoprobes during freezing-thawing process were numerically simulated. The results show that the growth velocity of ice crystal in freezing process from 200 to 400 s is more rapid than that from 400 to 600 s. Thawing process of frozen tissue occurs in the regions around cryoprobes tips and tissue boundary simultaneously, and the phase interfaces are close to each other until ice crystal melts completely. The distance of two cryoprobes has a more profound effect on the temperature distribution in freezing process at 400 s than at 800 s.

Keywords

heat transfer / fracture / phase change / freezing / thawing

References

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