Rheology of blood by NMR

Pipe flow of blood in tubes of 1 and 7 mm inner diameter, respectively, was investigated employing two-dimensional NMR velocity imaging and PFG propagator measurements at different Reynolds numbers between 10 and 3500. The results are compared to flow of a water/glycerol mixture of matching viscosity under identical conditions. The transition from laminar to turbulent flow is observed by both a flattening of the velocity profile and a change of the propagator shape. For blood flow this transition is found to be shifted toward higher Reynolds numbers as compared to the transition of the water/glycerol mixture. This observation is in agreement with predictions from hydraulic measurements and is a consequence of the non-Newtonian flow characteristics of blood as a suspension of erythrocytes and plasma. Likewise, a deviation from the laminar flow condition is observed for blood at low Reynolds numbers between 10 and 100. This phenomenon is unknown for Newtonian liquids and is explained by the onset of a geometrical arrangement of the erythrocytes, the so-called rouleaux effect.