Magnetic resonance velocimetry

Magnetic resonance velocimetry (MRV) is an experimental method to obtain velocity fields in fluid mechanics. MRV is based on the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance and adapts a medical magnetic resonance imaging system for the analysis of technical flows. The velocities are usually obtained by phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging techniques. This means velocities are calculated from phase differences in the image data that has been produced using special gradient techniques. MRV can be applied using common medical MRI scanners.[2] The term magnetic resonance velocimetry became current due to the increasing use of MR technology for the measurement of technical flows in engineering.[3]

Vastly undersampled Isotropic Projection Reconstruction (VIPR) of a Phase Contrast (PC) MRI sequence of a 56-year-old male with dissections of the celiac artery (upper) and the superior mesenteric artery (lower). Laminar flow is present in the true lumen (closed arrow) and helical flow is present in the false lumen (open arrow).[1]

Applications

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In engineering MRV can be applied to the following areas:

Advantages and limitations

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In contrast to other non-invasive velocimetry methods such as PIV or LDA, no optical access is required. Besides, no particles have to be added to the fluid. Thus, MRV enables to analyze the complete flow field in complex geometries and components.[4] Based on the fact that common MR scanners are designed to detect the nuclear magnetic resonance of hydrogen protons, the tested applications are limited to water flows. Common fluid mechanical scaling concepts compensate this limitation. To achieve the spatial resolution, single data acquisition steps have to be repeated a great number of times with slight variations. Thus, MRV technology is limited to steady or periodical flows.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Hartung, Michael P; Grist, Thomas M; François, Christopher J (2011). "Magnetic resonance angiography: current status and future directions". Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance. 13 (1): 19. doi:10.1186/1532-429X-13-19. ISSN 1532-429X. PMC 3060856. PMID 21388544. (CC-BY-2.0)
  2. ^ Ku, D.N.; Biancheri, C.L.; Pettigrew, R.I.; Peifer, J.W.; Markou, C.P.; Engels, H. (1990). "Evaluation of magnetic resonance velocimetry for steady flow". Journal of Biomechanical Engineering. 112 (4): 464–472. doi:10.1115/1.2891212. PMID 2273875.
  3. ^ Elkins, C.J.; Markl, M.; Pelc, N.; Eaton, J.K. (2003). "4D Magnetic resonance velocimetry for mean velocity measurements in complex turbulent flows". Experiments in Fluids. 34 (4): 494–503. Bibcode:2003ExFl...34..494E. doi:10.1007/s00348-003-0587-z. S2CID 119935724.
  4. ^ Elkins, C.; Alley, M.T. (2007). "Magnetic resonance velocimetry: applications of magnetic resonance imaging in the measurement of fluid motion". Experiments in Fluids. 43 (6): 823–858. Bibcode:2007ExFl...43..823E. doi:10.1007/s00348-007-0383-2. S2CID 121958168.
  5. ^ Fukushima, E. (1999). "Nuclear magnetic resonance as a tool to study flow". Annual Review of Fluid Mechanics. 31: 95–123. Bibcode:1999AnRFM..31...95F. doi:10.1146/annurev.fluid.31.1.95.

Further reading

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