LEAP-HI: Dynamic Sensing and Computational Approaches to Assess Individual-level Heat Risk Across Diverse Populations

酷暑是一种看不见的致命灾难，对人们的健康和福祉造成广泛的不利影响。它的频率和严重性正在增加，易受影响的人群感受到的影响不成比例。然而，人们对极端高温下体温是如何升高的知之甚少，因为人类长期暴露在这种条件下是危险的。这个领先的美国繁荣、健康和基础设施工程(LEAP-HI)项目利用来自不同学科的专业知识，开创了一种以前所未有的细节测量人类热暴露的现场方法。该方法将先进的移动生物气象站与人体形状的保暖人体模型融合在一起。人体模型测量普通人体所接受的热负荷，并模拟体温调节系统的反应。物理方法将与计算人体模型共同开发，以允许对不同人口统计数据和体型进行真实的热暴露评估。这项研究将有助于开发更公平的热暴露传感和建模方法，从而有助于减轻酷热天气带来的健康风险。模特将通过多媒体外展计划和开放参观活动吸引普通公众和学生的参与。综合研究和教育活动将强调STEM中代表性不足的群体的参与，包括女性职业早期教职调查人员和一个跨学科的学生团体，其中包括工程、可持续发展、气候、艺术和健康科学的本科生和毕业生。这个项目将研究不同复杂性的模型和方法，将建成环境的热测量或模拟转化为现实的对流和辐射边界条件，用于不同人口统计的三维计算人体模型模拟。这些模型将解决围绕空气湍流对对流动力学的影响以及方向性和光谱辐射分布对身体不同部位和形状上的辐射通量的影响的知识空白。将开发新的热假人现场方法和软复合热模式过滤假人涂层，以验证和基准模型和在不同环境中的假人模拟。该项目还将建立新的现场校准、数据收集和分析协议。将根据代表美国人口多样性的计算人体模型的热负荷和应变模拟计算出的各种“热情景”和不断演变的“风险情景”创建一个数据库。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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 minimal understanding of how body temperatures are elevated in extreme heat because prolonged human exposure to such conditions is dangerous. This Leading Engineering for America's Prosperity, Health, and Infrastructure (LEAP-HI) project leverages expertise from disparate disciplines to pioneer a field method for measuring human heat exposure with unprecedented detail. The method merges an advanced mobile biometeorological station with a human-shaped thermal manikin. The manikin measures the heat load received by an average human body and mimics the thermoregulatory system’s response. Physical methods will be co-developed with computational manikins to allow a realistic heat exposure assessment across diverse demographics and body shapes. The research will help develop more equitable heat exposure sensing and modeling approaches, thus help to mitigate the health risks of severely hot weather. The manikin will be leveraged to engage the general public and students through multimedia outreach programs and open house events. The integrated research and education activities will emphasize the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM, including female early-career faculty investigators and a transdisciplinary student body that spans undergraduates and graduates from engineering, sustainability, climate, arts, and health sciences. This project will research models and methods of varying complexity that translate built environment thermal measurements or simulations into realistic convective and radiative boundary conditions for three-dimensional computational manikin simulations of diverse demographics. These models will address knowledge gaps surrounding the impact of air turbulence on convection dynamics and the effect of directional and spectral radiation distributions on the radiative flux on various body parts and shapes. Novel thermal manikin field methods and soft composite heat-mode filtering manikin coatings will be developed to validate and benchmark models and manikin simulations in varying environments. The project will also establish new field calibration, data collection, and analysis protocols. A database will be created based on various “heatscapes” and evolving “riskscapes,” calculated from heat load and strain simulations of computational manikins representing the diversity of the U.S. population.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.