Simulations and measurements of nonlinear pressure field generated by linear array transducers

Ultrasound image quality has experienced a significant improvement over the past years with the utilization of harmonic frequencies. This brought the need to understand the physical processes involved in the propagation of finite amplitude sound beams, and the issues for redesigning and optimizing t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bouakaz, A., Lancee, C.T., Frinking, P.J.A., De Jong, N.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic propagation
Acoustic transducers
Computational modeling
Frequency
Image quality
Phased arrays
Pressure measurement
Ultrasonic imaging
Ultrasonic transducers
Ultrasonic variables measurement
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Summary:Ultrasound image quality has experienced a significant improvement over the past years with the utilization of harmonic frequencies. This brought the need to understand the physical processes involved in the propagation of finite amplitude sound beams, and the issues for redesigning and optimizing the phased array transducers. New arrays with higher imaging performances are essential for tissue imaging and contrast imaging as well. This study presents measurements and simulations on a 4.6 MHz square transducer. The numerical scheme used solves the KZK equation in the time domain. Comparison of measured and computed data showed good agreement for low and high excitation levels. In a similar way, a numerical simulation was performed on a linear array with 5 elements. The simulation showed that the second harmonic beam is narrower than the fundamental with less energy in the near field. In addition, the grating lobes are significantly lower. Accordingly, selective harmonic imaging shows less near field artifacts and will lower the clutter, resulting in much cleaner images.
ISSN:1051-0117
DOI:10.1109/ULTSYM.1999.849284