Human thermal exposure and thermoregulation in extreme heat

Extreme heat is an invisible and deadly disaster with wide-ranging adverse effects on people’s health and well-being. It is increasing in frequency and severity, and its impacts are felt disproportionately by vulnerable populations. Yet, there is a limited understanding of how body temperatures are elevated in extreme heat because prolonged human exposure to such conditions is dangerous. This project funded by $2 million NSF Leading Engineering for America’s Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure (LEAP-HI) program that leverages expertise from disparate disciplines to pioneer a field method for measuring human heat exposure and response with unprecedented detail. The method merges an advanced mobile biometeorological station with a novel human-shaped thermal manikin ANDI. Physical methods are co-developed with computational manikins to allow a realistic heat exposure and thermoregulatory response assessment across diverse demographics, body shapes, and scenarios (from Olympic runners to the unsheltered population). The aim is to advance these methods so they can be implemented to make informed behavioral, policy, and infrastructure decisions around heat.

With Prof. Jennifer Vanos and Prof. Ariane Middel, we have setup state-of-the art facility for studying human exposure to extreme heat in real and mimicked extreme environments. The facilities include a heat chamber in the Walton Center for Planetary Health with a walk-in wind enclosure, and the custom ANDI thermal manikin sponsored by NSF MRI grant. In outdoor measurements ANDI is paired up with his best friend MaRTy-3D, the biometeorological station. In addition to these unique high ends instrumentation, we use insight from these instruments to develop new affordable, yet accurate, radiation and convection cylindrical sensors.

Relevant publications:

Joshi, A., Viswanathan, S.H., Jaiswal, A.K., Sadeghi, K., Bartels, L., Jain, R.M., Pathikonda, G., Vanos, J.K., and Middel, A. and Rykaczewski, K.,* Characterization of Human Extreme Heat Exposure Using an Outdoor Thermal Manikin, Science of the Total Environment, (2024)

Rykaczewski,K.* Joshi, A., Viswanathan, S.H., Guddanti, S.S., Sadeghi, K., Gupta, M., Jaiswal, A.K., Kompally,K., Pathikonda,G.,  Barlett,R., Vanos, J.K., and Middel, A. A simple three-cylinder radiometer and low-speed anemometer to characterize human extreme heat exposure, International Journal of Biometeorology, (2024).

Vanos, J.K.,* Joshi, A., Guzman-Echavarria, G., Rykaczewski, K., and Hosokawa, Y. Impact of Reflective Roadways on Heat Strain at the Tokyo, Paris, and Los Angeles Olympics, Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise, (2024).

Karanja, J.*, Vanos, J.K., Joshi, A., Penner, S., Guzman-Echavaria, G., Connor, D.S., Rykaczewski, K., Impact of Tent Shade on Heat Exposures and Simulated Heat Strain for People Experiencing Homelessness, International Journal of Biometeorology, (2024).

Viswanathan, S., Martinez, D.,Bartels, L., Guddanti, S.S., and Rykaczewski, K.,*Impact of Human Body Shape on Forced Convection Heat Transfer ,  International Journal of Biometeorology, (2023)

Rykaczewski, K.,* Bartels, L., Martinez, D., and Viswanathan, S.Human Body Radiation Area Factors for Diverse Adult Population ,  International Journal of Biometeorology, (2022).

Rykaczewski, K.,* Vanos, J., Middel A., Anisotropic Radiation Source Models for Computational Thermal Manikin Simulations based on Common Radiation Field Measurements,  Building and Environment, (2022).

Vanos, J., Rykaczewski, K., Middel, A., Vecellio, D.J., Brown, R.D., Gillespie, T.J.  Improved methods for estimating mean radiant temperature in hot and sunny outdoor settings,  International Journal of Biometeorology, (2021).