The function calculates convection from an organism to its environment as in Mitchell (1976) . It includes an enhancement factor associated with outdoor environments.

Qconvection(T_a, T_b, A, proportion, H_L = 10.45, ef = 1.23)

Arguments

T_a

numeric air temperature (K).

T_b

numeric initial body temperature (K).

A

numeric surface area (m2).

proportion

numeric proportion of surface area exposed to air.

H_L

numeric convective heat transfer coefficient (W K-1 m-2).

ef

numeric is the enhancement factor, used to adjust H to field conditions. Approximated as mean value of 1.23 by default, but see Mitchell (1976) for further information.

Value

numeric convection (W).

References

Mitchell JW (1976). “Heat transfer from spheres and other animal forms.” Biophysical Journal, 16(6), 561-569. ISSN 0006-3495, doi:10.1016/S0006-3495(76)85711-6 .

Examples

  Qconvection(T_a        = 293,
              T_b        = 303,
              H_L        = 10.45,
              A          = 0.0025,
              proportion = 0.85)
#> [1] 0.2731369