How Warm is an Igloo?

Abstract

Homeostasis maintains the human body temperature within a few degrees of 37oC. However, in severe environments, such as a harsh winter blizzard, the body will not be able to maintain a 37oC temperature without the aid of clothes, shelter, and sources of heat. We find the Igloo, a shelter made of ice and snow, a very interesting means of maintaining body temperature. In this project, we have created a mesh of the Igloo system in GAMBIT and ran simulations in FIDAP to examine temperature variation and air flow inside of the igloo, when the human body is the only source of heat. In the steady state temperature profile obtained, areas of highest temperature were located directly around and above the human, and close to the top of the igloo, the temperature was 289K. The areas of lowest temperature were around 266 K, located at the bottom of the igloo farthest from the human. Natural convection caused the velocity of the air in the igloo to range from 0 to 9mm/s. The FIDAP analysis did not take into account radiative heat transfer, so a separate analysis was done, which revealed that there is considerable heat transfer through radiation in an igloo.