Imaging the shear and secondary compression wave: Ultrafast ultrasound in saturated foams reveals porous dispersion

• Published in: The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2019-10, Vol.146 (4), p.2755-2755
• Main Authors: Aichele, Johannes, Giammarinaro, Bruno, Reinwald, Michael, LeMoign, Goulven, Catheline, Stefan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0001-4966; 1520-8524
• DOI: 10.1121/1.5136541

Wave propagation in porous materials is of relevance in many fields of acoustics such as geophysics, noise cancellation, and biomedical imaging. In contrast to classical elastic materials, poroelastic materials support three types of elastic waves and exhibit a distinctive dispersion in the presence of viscous fluids. In addition to the compression and shear wave, a secondary compression wave, often named Biot slow wave, exists. Both, the slow compression wave and the shear wave are highly attenuated. This poses crucial difficulties for experimental detection. We overcome this challenge by using high frame rate ultrasound imaging for wave tracking inside saturated, highly porous melamine foams. To our knowledge, we show the first experimental speed and attenuation measurements inside a soft porous materials. In particular, experimental detection of the slow compression wave is scarce, and no direct imaging inside a porous material has been reported. Both wavespeeds are governed by the weak frame of the foam and exhibit a strong dispersion due to the fluid viscosity. Our experiments have direct implications for medical imaging: Melamine foams exhibit a similar microstructure as lung tissue. Furthermore, other organs such as the liver can be modeled as a soft porous material.