Studies of ocular heat transfer using the boundary element method

• Main Author: Ooi, Ean Hin
• Other Authors: Ang Whye Teong
• Format: Theses and Dissertations
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/19264
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Ocular heat transfer is a promising area of research. The continual fascination with ocular temperature may be attributed to its potential use in monitoring the physiological and health conditions of the human eye. Mathematical modeling has proven to be a reliable technique in the studies of ocular heat transfer. This has been attributed to the advancement of computational technology that enables complex mathematical problems to be modeled accurately. The incapability of infrared thermography (which is the current method in ocular thermometry) to measure intraocular temperatures in particular, may also contribute to the rising popularity of mathematical modeling. Majority of the ocular heat transfer studies in the past have been carried out using the finite element method. The boundary element method, which has been established as a leading alternative to the commonly used finite element method in engineering analysis, is rarely used. Since some aspects of the boundary element method have been found to be advantageous over the finite element method, it may be worth exploring the performance and feasibility of the boundary element method in the studies of ocular heat transfer. For this purpose, four specific problems involving heat transfer inside the human eye are investigated.