Effects of natural convection within the anterior chamber on the ocular heat transfer

The aqueous humor inside the anterior chamber has been known to be in constant circulation. It is widely accepted that this flow is caused mainly by the thermal gradient inside the anterior chamber, which induces buoyancy. This generates natural convection inside the anterior chamber, which may affect the overall heat transfer inside the human eye. Nevertheless, most of the studies in the past that investigated the temperature distribution inside the human eye have not included this into their mathematical model. This study seeks to investigate the significance of natural convection inside the anterior chamber on the heat transfer inside the human eye. For this purpose, a two-dimensional model of the anterior chamber is developed using the boundary element method. Copyright (C) 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.