  Existing hemolysis algorithms are often constructed for laminar flows that
expose red blood cells to a constant rate of shear. It remains an open question
whether such models are applicable to turbulent flows, where there is a
significant variation in shear rate along cell trajectories. To evaluate the
effect of turbulence on hemolysis, we perform cell-resolved simulations of red
blood cells in turbulent channel flow at $Re_\tau=180$ and 360 and compare them
against the results obtained from laminar flow simulations at an equivalent
wall shear stress. This comparison shows that, while the laminar flow generally
induces greater stretch in the cell in a time-averaged sense, cells experience
an overall larger deformation in turbulence. This difference is attributed to
extreme events in turbulence that occasionally create bursts of high shear
conditions, which, consequently, induce a large deformation in the cells.
Associating damage with the most extreme deformation regimes, we observe that,
in the worst case, the turbulent flow can produce deformation in the cell that
is higher than the absolute maximum value in the analogous laminar case
approximately 14\% of the time. Additionally, the $Re_\tau=180$ universally
induced greater deformation in the cells than the $Re_\tau = 360$ case,
suggesting that increasing the range of scales in the flow does not necessarily
yield greater deformation when all other parameters are kept constant. A strong
direct correlation ($R>0.8$) between shear rate and deformation metrics was
observed in turbulence. The correlation against $Q$-criterion is inverse and
weaker ($R\approx -0.26$), but once the shear contribution is subtracted, it
improves in terms of areal dilatation ($R\approx -0.6$).
