A micro-to-macroscale and multi-method investigation of human sweating dynamics

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jose, Cibin T., Joshi, Ankit, Viswanathan, Shri H., Nash, Sincere K., Sadeghi, Kambiz, Kavouras, Stavros A., Rykaczewski, Konrad
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866908463279374336
author Jose, Cibin T.
Joshi, Ankit
Viswanathan, Shri H.
Nash, Sincere K.
Sadeghi, Kambiz
Kavouras, Stavros A.
Rykaczewski, Konrad
author_facet Jose, Cibin T.
Joshi, Ankit
Viswanathan, Shri H.
Nash, Sincere K.
Sadeghi, Kambiz
Kavouras, Stavros A.
Rykaczewski, Konrad
contents Sweat secretion and evaporation from the skin dictate the human ability to thermoregulate and thermal comfort in hot environments and impact skin interactions with cosmetics, textiles, and wearable electronics or sensors. However, sweating has mostly been investigated using macroscopic physiological methods, leaving micro-to-macroscale sweating dynamics unexplored. We explore these processes by employing a coupled microscale imaging and transport measurement approach used in engineering studies of phase change processes. Specifically, we employed a comprehensive set of macroscale physiological measurements (ventilated capsule sweat rate, galvanic skin conductance, and dielectric epidermis hydration) complemented by three microscale imaging techniques (visible light, midwave infrared, and optical coherence tomography imaging). Inspired by industrial jet cooling devices, we also explore an air jet (vs. cylindrical) capsule for measuring sweat rate. To enable near simultaneous application of these methods, we studied forehead sweating dynamics of six supine subjects undergoing passive heating, cooling, and secondary heating. The relative dynamics of the physiological measurements agree with prior observations and can be explained using imaged microscale sweating dynamics. This comprehensive study provides new insights into the biophysical dynamics of sweating onset and following cyclic porewise, transition, and filmwise sweating modes, and highlights the roles of stratum corneum hydration, salt deposits, and microscale hair.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_04789
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A micro-to-macroscale and multi-method investigation of human sweating dynamics
Jose, Cibin T.
Joshi, Ankit
Viswanathan, Shri H.
Nash, Sincere K.
Sadeghi, Kambiz
Kavouras, Stavros A.
Rykaczewski, Konrad
Biological Physics
Sweat secretion and evaporation from the skin dictate the human ability to thermoregulate and thermal comfort in hot environments and impact skin interactions with cosmetics, textiles, and wearable electronics or sensors. However, sweating has mostly been investigated using macroscopic physiological methods, leaving micro-to-macroscale sweating dynamics unexplored. We explore these processes by employing a coupled microscale imaging and transport measurement approach used in engineering studies of phase change processes. Specifically, we employed a comprehensive set of macroscale physiological measurements (ventilated capsule sweat rate, galvanic skin conductance, and dielectric epidermis hydration) complemented by three microscale imaging techniques (visible light, midwave infrared, and optical coherence tomography imaging). Inspired by industrial jet cooling devices, we also explore an air jet (vs. cylindrical) capsule for measuring sweat rate. To enable near simultaneous application of these methods, we studied forehead sweating dynamics of six supine subjects undergoing passive heating, cooling, and secondary heating. The relative dynamics of the physiological measurements agree with prior observations and can be explained using imaged microscale sweating dynamics. This comprehensive study provides new insights into the biophysical dynamics of sweating onset and following cyclic porewise, transition, and filmwise sweating modes, and highlights the roles of stratum corneum hydration, salt deposits, and microscale hair.
title A micro-to-macroscale and multi-method investigation of human sweating dynamics
topic Biological Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.04789