Development of dual micro-PIV system for simultaneous velocity measurements: Optical arrangement techniques and application to blood flow measurements

Blood rheological characteristics can significantly vary with the motion of red blood cells (RBCs) in plasma. Moreover, RBCs show a complicated behavior in micro vessels. Thus, the determination of either plasma or blood cell velocity distribution has been the primary objective in blood flow analysis. However, the conditions during blood flow analyses are different from the actual physiological conditions, wherein the motion of the two distinct blood phases simultaneously occurs. In this study, we used an in vitro micro-particle image velocimetry, which is a reliable velocity field measurement technique, to evaluate the velocity distribution of plasma and blood cells simultaneously. Blood flow through a rectangular microchannel was determined using special optical filter arrangements and by assuming two different hematocrit values. Using the proposed technique, the averaged parabolic velocity profiles for the RBCs and plasma were successfully obtained and compared. The developed simultaneous measurement technique can be used to predict blood cell and plasma behaviors simultaneously with high accuracy under given clinical conditions.