<p>In the human body, turbulent flow is associated with many complications. Turbulence typically occurs downstream from stenoses and heart valve prostheses and at branch points of arteries. A proper way to study turbulence may enhance the understanding of the effects of stenoses and improve the functional assessment of damaged heart valves and heart valve prostheses.</p><p>The methods of today for studying turbulence in the human body lack in either precision or speed. This thesis exploits a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) phenomenon referred to as signal loss in order to develop a method for estimating turbulence intensity in blood flow.</p><p>MRI measurements were carried out on an appropriate flow phantom. The turbulence intensity results obtained by means of the proposed method were compared with previously known turbulence intensity results. The comparison indicates that the proposed method has great potential for estimation of turbulence intensity.</p>

In the human body, turbulent flow is associated with many complications. Turbulence typically occurs downstream from stenoses and heart valve prostheses and at branch points of arteries. A proper way to study turbulence may enhance the understanding of the effects of stenoses and improve the functional assessment of damaged heart valves and heart valve prostheses. The methods of today for studying turbulence in the human body lack in either precision or speed. This thesis exploits a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) phenomenon referred to as signal loss in order to develop a method for estimating turbulence intensity in blood flow. MRI measurements were carried out on an appropriate flow phantom. The turbulence intensity results obtained by means of the proposed method were compared with previously known turbulence intensity results. The comparison indicates that the proposed method has great potential for estimation of turbulence intensity.