Influence of Red Blood Cell Concentrations on the Measurement of Turbulence Using Hot-Film Anemometer

Abstract

Measurement of local velocity fluctuations was made with an L-shaped conical hot-film probe in a submerged circular jet. The experiment was carried out in solutions of washed human red blood cells (RBC) in a phosphate buffer solution (PBS), at hematocrit concentrations (Ht percent) of 10, 19, 29, and 38 percent. The viscosity of the testing solutions was kept at 3.2 c.p. by adding proper amount of dextran. The experiment was conducted at Reynolds numbers (NR) 674, 963, 1255 and 1410, based on the jet exit velocity and exit diameter. Statistical analyses were performed on the recorded instantaneous velocity signals to obtain the root-mean-square (rms) values, the probability density functions (PDF) and the power spectral density functions (PSDF) of the signals. Within the range tested, we noticed an incidental rise in rms values at 19 to 29 Ht percent for NR = 963 similar to those reported earlier in the literature. Further analyses using PDF and PSDF, however, showed neither a trend nor any physical significance of this rise. Based on the analyses of both the PDF and the PSDF, we believe that the incidental rise in rms value can be partially attributed to the high spikes registered by the probe in a high RBC concentrations fluid flow. The bombardment of RBC on the probe thermal boundary layer may cause a characteristic change in the probe response to certain flow phenomenon, at least within the Reynolds number range used in this study. Additional theoretical and experimental information is needed to pin point the nature of this response. We thus suggest that the second and higher moments of the HFA signals obtained in a fluctuating flow field involving a liquid with relatively high contaminant concentrations cannot be interpreted as a simple flow phenomenon.