On the interplay of encoding and readout in turbulent flow imaging

The accuracy of turbulent flow quantification using phase-contrast MRI depends on both the turbulence energy spectrum to be imaged and the sampling spectrum of the velocity encoding gradients. In the present work their interplay is studied in detail, revealing erroneous quantification of intravoxel standard deviation and turbulent kinetic energy in particular in cases exhibiting low turbulence frequencies. It is concluded that experimental design for turbulent flow quantification needs to consider the joint effect of velocity encoding and imaging gradients.