Finite element modeling of electrode contacts in electrical injury

Finite element analysis was used to evaluate the contact parameters of electrical burn injury. Model development was iterative and started with a simple steady-state thermal model and ended with a transient analysis of the thermoelectric model. The final model was two-dimensional for depth and radius. The contact simulated a 2-cm circular disk contacting the skin and applying 100 V across the tissue. Results give thermal and potential profiles through the media for each model iteration. These models show the extent of the edge effect which correlates with burns at the contact site. The models correlate with experimental data