Determination of the rheological properties of whole blood by the nonstationary method of pulsed changing of the rate of shear

Problems associated with the use of the nonstationary method of pulsed changing of the rate of shear for the measurement of important viscoplastic properties of whole blood - the critical shear stress τ0 and the plastic viscosity μp - are considered. The indicated method was compared to the method of stationary rheometry. It is shown that the blood-flow curve obtained by this method, unlike that obtained by the stationary method, characterizes a viscoplastic medium. To calculate the parameters of this medium exactly, it is necessary to take into account the dependence of the rate of shear on the above-indicated parameters. © 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.