A new capillary viscometer for whole blood viscosimetry
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Updated: Oct 2, 2026

Non-invasive Assessment of Microvascular and Endothelial Function
Published on: January 29, 2013
G N Marinakis1, J C Barbenel, A C Fisher
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Greece. eiaa@otenet.gr
Abstract:
A new capillary system was developed, incorporating infrared sensors, which allowed the determination of whole blood viscosity over a wide range of shear stresses. Flow conditions were defined by the geometry of the capillary and the sample pressure head. Whole blood was considered to be a power law fluid and a modified Mooney's formula was used for the calculation of the related invariants. The new viscometer proved to be very simple in use, requiring one run, had a short measuring time and utilised a small test sample volume. However it can be used for whole blood viscosity measurements only at medium and high shear stresses.
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