Simulation of non-linear ultrasound fields

An approach for simulating non-linear ultrasound imaging using Field II has been implemented using the operator splitting approach, where diffraction, attenuation, and non-linear propagation can be handled individually. The method uses the Earnshaw/Poisson solution to Burgers’ equation for the non-linear propagation. The speed of sound is calculated from the instantaneous pressure of the pulse and the nonlinearity B/A parameter of the medium. The harmonic field is found by introducing a number of virtual planes in front of the aperture and then propagating the pulse using Burgers’ solution between the planes. Simulations on the acoustical axis of an array transducer were performed and compared to measurements made in a water tank. A 3 MHz convex array transducer with a pitch of 0.53 mm and a height of 13 mm was used. The electronic focus was at 45 mm and 16 elements were used for emission. The emitted pressure was 1.4 MPa measured 6 mm from the aperture by a Force Institute MH25-5 needle hydrophone in a water bath. The build-up of higher harmonics can here be predicted accurately up to the 5th harmonic. The second harmonic is simulated with an accuracy of± 2.6 dB and the third harmonic with ± 2 dB compared to the water bath measurements. Point spread functions (PSFs) were also calculated and measured. They all showed that the second and third harmonic PSFs are narrower than for the first harmonic, with a good resemblance between the measured and simulated PSFs. The approach can also be extended to simulate non-linear ultrasound imaging in 3D using filters or pulse inversion for any kind of transducer, focusing, apodization, pulse emission and scattering phantom. This is done by first simulating the non-linear emitted field and assuming that the scattered field is weak and linear. The received signal is then the spatial impulse response in receive convolved with the emitted field at the given point.