Affiliations: Fluids Section, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece | Bioengineering Unit, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK | Department of Clinical Engineering, Medical School, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
Note: [] Reprint requests to: G.N. Marinakis, Fluids Section, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, P.O. Box 64070, 157 10 Zografos, Athens, Greece. Fax: +30 1 23 14 114; E‐mail: 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.
Keywords: Whole blood, capillary, power law, viscometer, viscosity
Journal: Biorheology, vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 311-318, 1999
