The ring vortex: A candidate for a liquid-based complex flow phantom for medical imaging

Abstract

Flow informed diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases requires the accurate and specific interpretation of complex flow patterns acquired by medical imaging systems. Satisfactory imaging performance is assured through calibration and validation against known reference flows, but in the domain of complex flows these suffer from numerous limitations. The hypothesis of the present work is that the ring vortex combines characteristics of high complexity comparable to pathological flows but also offers characterizability comparable to simple flows. This is explored through a combination of experiment and theory involving ring vortex production in a water tank. Measurements confirm that despite the complexity of this vortical flow, it is stable, reproducible, predictable and controllable. The flow is sufficiently well behaved that it is consistent with some flow imaging standards, and consequently deserves consideration as a candidate for a complex flow phantom.