Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics, 2014, 2, 1079-1084
Published Online November 2014 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/jamp
http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jamp.2014.212124
How to cite this paper: Goik, D., Sieniek, M., Gurgul, P. and Paszyński, M. (2014) Modeling of the Absorption of the Elec-
tromagnetic Wave Energy in the Human Head Induced by Cell Phone. Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics, 2,
1079-1084. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jamp.2014.212124
Modeling of the Absorption of the
Electromagnetic Wave Energy in the
Human Head Induced by Cell Phone
Damian Goik, Marcin Sieniek, Piotr Gurgul, Maciej Paszyński
Department of Computer Science, AGH University of Science and Technology, Kraków, Poland
Email: maciej.paszynski@agh.edu.pl
Received Oc tob er 2014
Abstract
In this paper, we present the Projection Based Interpolation (PBI) technique for construction of
continuous approximation of MRI scan data of the human head. We utilize the result of the PBI al-
gorithm to perform three-dimensional (3D) Finite Element Method (FEM) simulations of the heat-
ing of the human head induced by cell phone. In particular, we utilize the Pennes equation to de-
scribe the bioheat transfer with the right hand side representing the heat generated by cell phone.
We utilize our own non-stationary time dependent multi-thread parallel direct solver for the solu-
tion of this computational problem. From our numerical results it follows that 15 minutes (1000
seconds) exposure to the cell phone radiation implies up to 2 degrees Celsius increase of the tem-
perature of the brain in the range close to the cell phone.
Keywords
Finite Element Meth od , Projection Based Inte rp ola ti on, Pennes Equation , Heating of the Human
Head
1. Introduction
In this paper we present design and implementation of three dimensional finite element method h adaptive code
for efficient and accurate solution of the challenging engineering problem of heating of the human head induced
by the propagation of electromagnetic waves generated by cell phone. We use the Pennes bioheat transfer equa-
tion for the modeling of the heating of the human head. The heat source in the equation is based on the numeri-
cal solution for the Maxwell equations modeling the propagation of the electromagnetic waves over the human
head generated by cell phone. This project will allow for the first time find reliable answer to the question of the
influence of the cellular phones on the brain tissue, compare Figure 1.
This is the project with collaboration with the group of Professor Leszek Demkowicz from ICES (Institute for
Computational and Engineering Science, The University of Texas in Austin), in the frame of the Polish National
Science Center grant HARMONIA. The collaborating group of prof. Leszek Demkowicz provides the solution
of the Maxwell equations, namely the heat source for the right hand side of the Pennes equation. The geometry
of the human head is obtained by using my own implementation of the projection based interpolation algorithm
D. Goik et al.
1080
Figure 1. Left panel: Thermographic image of the head with no expose to harmful cell phone radiation, Right panel:
Thermographic image of the head after a 15-minute phone call. Yellow and red areas indicate thermal (heating) effects that
can cause negative health problems (images obtained from Prof. Leszek Demkowicz, The University of Texas at Austin).
[1] generating the three dimensional h refined mesh based on the MRI scan of the human head of prof. Maciej
Paszyński. This is the challenging problem due to the fact that of the complexity of the human head geometry
and the numerical equations involved, which results in huge size of the system of linear equations.
2. Simulation of the Heating of the Human Head
The simulation of the absorption of the electromagnetic wave energy over the human head, in particular human
brain, induced by cell phone usage, and possible adverse health effects of EM waves are of the great importance.
The simulations available so far concerned the simplified geometrical model of the human head [2]. In this pa-
per we present a three dimensional finite element method simulations of the heating of the human head induced
by electromagnetic waves generated by cell phone for the case of the real human head. In particular we perform
the following steps in our simulation. First, we perform a MRI scan of the head of one of the authors of this pa-
per (M. Paszyński), compare Figure 1. We create a three dimensional bitmap from the 29 cross-sections of the
head with resolution 532 - 565 pixels obtained from MRI scan data. The range of the values at different pixels
varies from [0,255]. These values correspond to different material data. Next, we utilize a projection based in-
terpolation technique [3] [4] to generate a continuous approximation of the material data, compare Figure 2. We
utilize three dimensional h adaptation algorithm [5] with hexahedral finite elements, with the error estimator
based on the L2 norm difference between the local element approximation and the MRI scan data. Having the
approximation a globally C0 and locally C1 function, we may distinguish different material data. In particular
we assume air (approximation < 1), brain (1 <= approximation < 240) and skull (approximation >= 240). Having
the PBI approximation, we can formulate the bioheat Pennes equation, taking into account thermal conductivity
k as well as metabolism
m
q
, perfusion
bb
Wc
, and heat source from the cellphone
sar
q
:
()
( )
0 sar
in
bb am
u
ck uWcuuqq
t
ρ
=∇⋅ ∇+−++Ω
(1)
The unknown
( )
,u xt
is the temperature distribution in space and time. The values of the parameters are
summarized in Figure 1. They are selected according to the kind of the tissue, as suggested by the results of the
PBI approximation.
3. Projection Based Interpolation
The location of material data inside the human head model has been obtained by using the projection based in-
terpolation algorithm that consists the following sub-steps, related to hexahedral finite element vertices, edges,
faces and interiors. For each finite element, we are looking for
i
a
coefficients in a particular order. The com-
putational mesh can be generated by using a linear computational cost projection based interpolation routine,
first proposed in [1] [5]. We start with vertices, since their coefficients are the most straightforward to compute.
There is only one function per each of eight vertexes with a support on it and the interpolating function is re-
quired to be equal to the interpolant, which yields:
, (2)
D. Goik et al.
1081
Figure 2. Single slice of the MRI scan of the human head and its PBI representation.
On nodes other than vertices, the input function cannot be represented exactly, so instead we are trying to mi-
nimize the representation error. First, on each one of the 12 edges of tetrahedral element:
( )
1
0
dim
8
,
11
min1, ,12
ei
ii
i
V
v le
jl
He
Uu ui
= =

−−→ ∀=


∑∑
(3)
where
dim
i
Ve
signifies the number of edge shape functions in space
V
with supports on edge
i
e
. Such a
problem can be reduced to a linear system and solved with a linear solver, but if we assume the adaptation order
2p=
on each node, for each edge there exists only one shape function with a support on it. Not only is this re-
striction justified performance-wise (one local equation instead of a system), but it also suffices in most cases,
according to our experiments. Thus equation (3) reduces to:
( )
1
0
8
0,
1
min1, ,12
ii
i
U
ve
j
He
Uuu i
=

−−→ ∀=



, (4)
where
U
vanishes on the element’s vertices. After rewriting the norm:
( )
32
0,
1
dmin1, ,12
i
i
e
k
e
Uu xi
=
∇⋅−→∀ =
, (5)
2
3,
,
1
d
ddmin1,,12 and
dd
i
ii
i
oe
oee i
kkk
e
u
Ux iua
xx
ϕ
=

−→ ∀==


(6)
we have
2
2
33 3
,,
11 1
dd
dd
d2ddmin1, ,12
ddd d
ii
ii i
oe oe
kk k
kkk k
ee e
uu
UU
xx xi
xxx x
= ==

−+→ ∀=


 
∑∑ ∑
∫∫ ∫
(7)
which leads to
2
33
,,
11
dd
d
d2dmin1, ,12
d dd
ii
ii
oe oe
kk
k kk
ee
uu
U
x xi
x xx
= =

−→ ∀=


∑∑
∫∫
(8)
since the other term is constant and can be omit in minimization.
Let be
( )
,buv
is a bilinear, symmetric form and
( )
lu
is a linear form defined as:
D. Goik et al.
1082
()( )
2
33
,,
11
dd
d
,2d , d
dd d
ii
ii
oe oe
kk
kk k
ee
uu
U
buvx lvx
xx x
= =

== 

∑∑
∫∫
(9)
It is proven that minimizing
()( )
12 ,buv lu
is reducible to solving
()( )
,buv lu
=
for all test functions v.
By applying this lemma we obtain
33
,,
11
dd
dd
d2dmin1, ,12
dd dd
ii
ii
oe oe
kk
kk kk
ee
uu
vU
x xi
xx xx
= =
=→ ∀=
∑∑
∫∫
(10)
which leads to
33
11
d dd
ddd 1,,12
ddd d
i ii
i
ii
e ee
ekk
kkk k
ee
U
ax xi
xxx x
ϕ ϕϕ
= =
= ∀=
∑∑
∫∫
(11)
The next step consists in an optimization on six faces of hexahedral element:
()
1
0
8 12
0, 0,
11
min1,, 6
j ji
i
U
v ef
jj
Hf
Uuu ui
= =

−−−→∀=


∑∑


, (12)
where
U

vanishes on vertices and edges. This leads to:
33
11
d dd
ddd 1,...,6
ddd d
i ii
i
ii
f ff
fkk
kkk k
ff
U
ax xi
xxx x
ϕ ϕϕ
= =
= ∀=
∑∑
∫∫
(13)
Finally, an analogical optimization in the interior of the finite element:
( )
1
0
8 126
0,0, 0,
11 1
min
jjj
U
v efI
jj j
HI
Uuuu u
= ==

−− −−→


∑∑ ∑


, (14)
(where
U

vanishes everywhere except from the interior) yields:
33
11
d dd
ddd
dd dd
ii
I II
Ikk
kk kk
ff
U
a xx
xx xx
ϕ ϕϕ
= =
=
∑∑
∫∫
(15)
It is worth noting that using this method the global matrix is not constructed at all. Thanks to the
2p=
re-
striction, we have a single equation over each vertex, edge, face and interior. This algorithm requires a computa-
tional cost linear with respect to the mesh size, because it involves constant number of operations for each vertex,
edge, face and interior and the number of respective nodes is proportional to
n
the number of finite elements.
4. Potential for Multi-Thread Implementation
The projection-based interpolation is a fully local operation. The PBI involves four global loops, and all the
computations are performed over element vertices, edges, faces and interiors. These operations may be fully pa-
rallelizable using Open MP architecture.
#pragam omp parallel for
for vertex in (vertices of elements of the mesh)
compute values of coefficient
i
v
a
given by (2) for PBI for vertex
store
i
v
a
at vertex
#pragam omp parallel for
for edge in (edges of elements of the mesh)
compute values of coefficient
i
e
a
given by (11) for PBI for edge
store
i
e
a
at edge
D. Goik et al.
1083
#pragam omp parallel for
for face in (faces of elements of the mesh)
compute values of coefficient
i
f
a
given by (13) for PBI for face
store
i
f
a
at face
#pragam omp parallel for
for interior in (interiors of elements of the mesh)
compute values of coefficient
I
a
given by (15) for PBI for vertex
store
I
a
at interior
5. Numerical results
In this section we present the numerical results for the heating of the human head induced by cell phone with the
material data selected according to the kind of the tissue, as suggested by the results of the PBI approximation,
using values from Table 1. The PBI algorithm has been executed on the 3D MRI scan data, compare Figure 2.
For the numerical solution of (1) we utilize the finite element method with Crank-Nicolson scheme, proved to
be unconditionally stable. In our work we solve the Pennes equations over the real human head model, but the heat
source from the cell-phone is based on the solution obtained by [1] (picture 6.14, the dipol located at 2 cm distance
from the human head). From our numerical results it follows that 15 minutes (1000 seconds) exposure to the cell
phone radiation implies up to 2 Celsius increase of the temperature of the brain in the range close to the cell phone,
compare Figure 3.
Table 1. Material data used in the simulation.
Material Param et ers
Air B ra in Skull
ρ
1.16 1039 1645
C
1006 3700 1300
k
0.02 0.57 0.4
m
q
0 7100 590
bb
Wc
0 40000 3 300
Figure 3. Left panel: The solution to Pennes equation after 1000 seconds without a cell phone
exposure. Uniform temperature Right panel: The solution to the Pennes equation at two cross-
sections close to the ear (where the cell-phone is located), with and without the cell phone usage,
after 1000 seconds (16 minutes of a cell phone exposure). Maximum temperature (red areas) reaches
38.4 Celsius.
D. Goik et al.
1084
6. Conclusion
In this paper we presented a three dimensional simulations on the heating of the human head tissues induced by
the cell phone usage. We showed that 16 minutes of the exposure to the cell phone radiation results in a local
increase of temperature up to 38.4 Celsius. Our solver can be applied for such the simulations for arbitrary input
data, namely the results of the MRI scan of a human head. The heat source induced by cell phone was obtained
from the work of [2] for the dipole antenna. In our future work we plan to develop software solving the Maxwell
equations over the PBI data, in order to be able to experiment with different cell phone antennas.
Acknowledgements
The work presented in this paper has been supported by Polish National Science Center grants No. DEC-
2011/03/N/ST6/01397 (Marcin Sieniek, PBI algorithm; Piotr Gurgul, analysis of the concurrency), 2012/
07/B/ST6/01229 (Damian Goik, non-stationary solver) and 2012/06/M/ST1/00363 (Maciej Paszyński, human
head modeling) as well as the Deans grant no. 15.11.230.128 (Piotr Gurgul, multi-threa di ng) .
References
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