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Dynamic acousto-elastic testing (DAET) is based on the coupling of a low-frequency (LF) acoustic wave and high-frequency ultrasound (US) pulses (probing wave). It was developed to measure US viscoelastic and dissipative non-linearity in trabecular bone. It is well known that this complex biphasic medium contains microdamage, even when tissues are healthy. The purpose of the present study was to assess the sensitivity of DAET to monitor microdamage in human calcanei. Three protocols were therefore performed to investigate the regional heterogeneity of the calcaneus, the correlation between DAET measurements and microdamage revealed by histology, and DAET sensitivity to mechanically induced fatigue microdamage. The non-linear elastic parameter β was computed for all these protocols. The study demonstrated the presence of high viscoelastic and dissipative non-linearity only in the region of the calcaneus close to the anterior talocalcaneal articulation (region of high bone density). Protocols 1 and 2 also showed that most unsorted calcanei did not naturally exhibit high non-linearity, which is correlated with a low level of microcracks. Nevertheless, when microdamage was actually present, high levels of US non-linearity were always found, with characteristic non-linear signatures such as hysteresis and tension/compression asymmetry. Finally, protocol 3 demonstrated the high sensitivity of DAET measurement to fatigue-induced microdamage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A measuring method of the emission rate of an atmospheric pollutant source, based on the use of a tracer gas (helium) and developed in the case of a gaseous source, was tested for an aerosol source. The influence of both particle sedimentation and wall depositions was studied. The transport coefficients of the tracer gas and of alumina particles of various particle sizes (MMAD from 8 to 36 Θ m) were measured on a vertical axis close to the source, in a 71 m[sup 3] room swept by a piston flow. The measurements clearly demonstrated the predominant influence of sedimentation in the case of particles with aerodynamic diameters greater than 10 Θ m. Particle wall deposition was determined by measuring the gas and particle concentration decay in the ventilated room. To do this, a new tracing method using a fluorescent aerosol was developed. The measured aerosol deposition rates are much higher than those calculated from the formula of Corner for a cubical volume. Aerosol sedimentation and wall deposition are two phenomena limiting the use of a tracer gas to measure the aerosol emission rate. The chemical substances and materials used in work premises are likely to be released into the atmosphere and lead to the formation of pollutants. These emissions stem from either physical or chemical processes (evaporation of a solvent) or from mechanical processes (dispersion of oil droplets at the source of mists). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reversible and programmable shaping of surfaces promises wide-ranging applications in tunable optics and acoustic metasurfaces. Based on acoustic radiation pressure, contactless and real-time deformation of fluid interface can be achieved. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study to characterize the spatiotemporal properties of the deformation induced by acoustic radiation pressure. Using localized ultrasonic excitation, we report the possibility of on-demand tailoring of the induced protrusion at water-air interface in space and time, depending on the shape of the input pressure field. The experimental method used to measure the deformation of the water surface in space and time shows close agreement with simulations. We demonstrate that acoustic radiation pressure allows shaping protrusion at fluid interfaces, which could be changed into a various set of spatiotemporal distributions, considering simple parameters of the ultrasonic excitation. This paves the way for novel approach to design programmable space and time-dependent gratings at fluid interfaces., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Backing materials with tailored acoustic properties are beneficial for miniaturized ultrasonic transducer design. Whereas piezoelectric P(VDF-TrFE) films are common elements in high-frequency (>20 MHz) transducer design, their low coupling coefficient limits their sensitivity. Defining a suitable sensitivity-bandwidth trade-off for miniaturized high-frequency applications requires backings with impedances of >25 MRayl and strongly attenuating to account for miniaturized requirements. The motivation of this work is related to several medical applications such as small animal, skin or eye imaging. Simulations showed that increasing the acoustic impedance of the backing from 4.5 to 25 MRayl increases transducer sensitivity by 5 dB but decreases the bandwidth, which nevertheless remains high enough for the targeted applications. In this paper, porous sintered bronze material with spherically shaped grains, size-adapted for 25-30 MHz frequency, was impregnated with tin or epoxy resin to create multiphasic metallic backings. Microstructural characterizations of these new multiphasic composites showed that impregnation was incomplete and that a third air phase was present. The selected composites, sintered bronze-tin-air and sintered bronze-epoxy-air , at 5-35 MHz characterization, produced attenuation coefficients of 1.2 and >4 dB/mm/MHz and impedances of 32.4 and 26.4 MRayl, respectively. High-impedance composites were adopted as backing (thickness = 2 mm) to fabricate focused single-element P(VDF-TrFE)-based transducers (focal distance = 14 mm). The center frequency was 27 MHz, while the bandwidth at -6 dB was 65% for the sintered-bronze-tin-air -based transducer. We evaluated imaging performance using a pulse-echo system on a tungsten wire (diameter = 25 μm) phantom. Images confirmed the viability of integrating these backings in miniaturized transducers for imaging applications.

Background: Placental elasticity may be modified in women with placental insufficiency. Shear wave elastography (SWE) can measure this, using acoustic radiation force, but the safety of its use in pregnant women has not yet been demonstrated. Transient elastography (TE) is a safer alternative, but has not yet been applied to the placenta. Moreover, the dispersion of shear wave speed (SWS) as a function of frequency has received relatively little study for placental tissue, although it might improve the accuracy of biomechanical assessment., Objective: To explore the feasibility and reproducibility of TE for placental analysis, to compare the values of SWS and Young's modulus (YM) from TE and SWE, and to analyze SWS dispersion as a function of frequency ex vivo in normal placentas., Materials and Methods: Ten normal placentas were analyzed ex vivo by an Aixplorer ultrasound system as shear waves were generated by a vibrating plate and by using an Aixplorer system. The frequency analysis provided the value of the exponent n from a fractional rheological model applied to the TE method. We calculated intra- and interobserver agreement for SWS and YM with 95% prediction intervals, created Bland-Altman plots with 95% limits of agreement, and estimated the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)., Main Results: The mean SWS was 1.80 m/s +/- 0.28 (standard deviation) with the TE method at 50 Hz and 1.82 m/s +/-0.13 with SWE (P = 0.912). No differences were observed between the central and peripheral regions of placentas with either TE or SWE. With TE, the intraobserver ICC for SWS was 0.68 (0.50-0.82), and the interobserver ICC for SWS 0.65 (0.37-0.85). The mean parameter n obtained from the fractional rheological model was 1.21 +/- 0.12, with variable values of n for any given SWS., Conclusions: TE is feasible and reproducible on placentas ex vivo. The frequency analysis of SWS provides additional information about placental elasticity and appears to be able to distinguish differences between placental structures.

The characterization of brain tissue is crucial to better understand neurological disorders. Mechanical characterization is an emerging tool in that field. The purpose of this work was to validate a transient ultrasound technique aimed at measuring dispersion of mechanical parameters of the brain tissue. The first part of this work was dedicated to the validation of that technique by comparing it with two proven rheology methods: a rotating plate rheometer, and a viscoelastic spectroscopy apparatus. Experiments were done on tissue mimicking gels. Results were compared on storage and loss modulus in the 20-100 Hz band. Our method was validated for the measurement of storage modulus dispersion, with some reserves on the measurement of loss modulus. The second part of this work was the measurement of the mechanical characteristics of ex vivo human white matter. We were able to measure the dispersion of the storage and loss modulus in the 20-100 Hz band, fitting the data with a custom power law model., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The accumulation of microdamage in trabecular bone tissue is suspected of being a predictive indicator of osteoporosis diagnosis. To quantify this microdamage, the Dynamic AcoustoElastic Testing (DAET) method measures the Time Of Flight (TOF) and amplitude variations of transmitted ultrasound (US) pulses, while the bone sample is submitted to a low frequency sinusoidal hydrostatic pressure (opening/closing of microcracks). However, DAET is both sensitive to viscoelastic properties changes and microcracks density. To verify the microcracks density contribution on DAET results, a numerical approach is proposed. Multliple configurations of microdamaged trabecular bone-tissue-like mesh have been simulated. A 2D pseudo-spectral time domain numerical model was then developed to simulate linear wave propagation in heterogeneous solids. The influence of the microcracks number and orientation on the US TOF was particularly investigated. Results are discussed and compared with experimental data obtained from DAET measurements in trabecular bone samples., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Dynamic acoustoelastic testing is applied to weakly pre-loaded unconsolidated water-saturated glass beads. The gravitational acceleration produces, on the probed beads, a static stress of order 130 Pa, thus the granular medium is close to the jamming transition. A low-frequency (LF) acoustic wave gently disturbs the medium, inducing successively slight expansion and compaction of the granular packing expected to modulate the number of contacts between beads. Ultrasound (US) pulses are emitted simultaneously to dynamically detect the induced modification of the granular skeleton. US propagation velocity and attenuation both increase when the LF pressure increases. The quadratic nonlinear elastic parameter β, related to the pressure dependence of US propagation velocity, was measured in the range 60-530 if water-saturated glass beads are considered as an effective medium. A dynamic modification of US scattering induced by beads is proposed to modulate US attenuation. Complex hysteretic behaviors and tension-compression asymmetry are also observed and analyzed by time-domain and spectral analyses. Furthermore acoustic nonlinearities are measured in cases of quasi-static and dynamic variations of the LF wave amplitude, providing quantitatively similar acoustic nonlinearities but qualitatively different.

The transient analysis of piezoelectric transducers is often performed using finite-element or finite-difference time-domain methods, which efficiently calculate the vibration of the structure but whose numerical dispersion prevents the modeling of waves propagating over large distances. A second analytical or numerical simulation is therefore often required to calculate the pressure field in the propagating medium (typically water) to deduce many important characteristics of the transducer, such as spatial resolutions and side lobe levels. This is why a hybrid algorithm was developed, combining finite- difference and pseudo-spectral methods in the case of 2-D configurations to simulate accurately both the generation of acoustic waves by the piezoelectric transducer and their propagation in the surrounding media using a single model. The algorithm was redefined in this study to take all three dimensions into account and to model single-element transducers, which usually present axisymmetrical geometry. This method was validated through comparison of its results with those of finite-element software, and was used to simulate the behavior of planar and lens-focused transducers. A high-frequency (30 MHz) transducer based on a screen-printed piezoelectric thick film was fabricated and characterized. The numerical results of the hybrid algorithm were found to be in good agreement with the experimental measurements of displacements at the surface of the transducer and of pressure radiated in water in front of the transducer.

In a recent publication [E. Filoux, S. Callé, D. Certon, M. Lethiecq, F. Levassort, Modeling of piezoelectric transducers with combined pseudospectral and finite-difference methods, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 123 (6) (2008) 4165-4173], a new finite-difference/pseudospectral time-domain (FD-PSTD) algorithm was presented and used to model the generation of acoustic waves by a piezoelectric resonator and their propagation in the structure and the surrounding water. In this paper, the model has been extended to simulate the two-dimensional behaviour of a complete single-element transducer, composed of the resonator, a backing and a front matching layer. This further version of the model takes into account the mechanical loss in materials, and enables the calculation of electrical impedance, which is a characteristic of high interest to optimize the performance of ultrasonic transducers. The impedance curves of a PZT [URL: http://www.ferroperm-piezo.com (last viewed 04/2008); B. Jaffe, R.S. Roth, S. Marzullo, Piezoelectric properties of lead zirconate-lead titanate solid-solution ceramics, J. Appl. Phys. 25 (1954) 809-810] plate-based high-frequency transducer, with a 50 MHz thickness resonant frequency, were compared to those of a KLM model [R. Krimholtz, D.A. Leedom, G.L. Matthei, New equivalent circuit for elementary piezoelectric transducers, Electron. Lett. 6 (1970) 398-399] in the one-dimensional case. The acoustical properties were also found to be in good agreement with those obtained using the finite element (FE) method of ATILA software in two-dimensional configuration.

Elastography applications require the use of efficient models to simulate the propagation of shear waves in soft media such as human tissues. These models are needed to improve understanding of the measured displacement field, to reconstruct the viscoelasticity of heterogeneous tissues, and to test inversion algorithms. This paper reports a numerical model based on a pseudospectral time domain method developed to simulate shear and compression wave propagation in an axisymmetric heterogeneous viscoelastic medium. This model was adapted to the study of soft tissues where the ratio between the compression and the shear wave velocity was about a thousand and validated in the homogeneous situation by comparison with an analytical model based on elastodynamic Green's functions. Displacements obtained experimentally using transient elastography are presented, compared with simulation results, and discussed.

One way to characterize metallic materials in the presence of defects like dislocation networks is to measure their large dynamic nonlinear elastic response. In this numerical study, a new method combining the nonlinear elastic wave spectroscopy (NEWS) method with a time reversal (TR) process is proposed. This method, called NEWS-TR, uses nonlinear analysis as a pretreatment of time reversal and then consists of retrofocusing only nonlinear components on the defect position. A two-dimensional pseudospectral time domain algorithm is developed here to validate the NEWS-TR method as a potential technique for damage location. Hysteretic nonlinear behavior of the materials being studied is introduced using the Preisach-Mayergoyz model. Moreover, in order to extend this solver in two dimensions, the Kelvin notation is used to modify the elastic coefficient tensor. Simulations performed on a metallic sample show the feasibility and value of the NEWS-TR methodology for microdamage imaging. Retrofocusing quality depends on different parameters such as the filtering method used to keep only nonlinear components and the nonlinear effect measured. In harmonic generation, pulse inversion filtering seems to be a more appropriate filtering method than classical harmonic filtering for most defect positions, mainly because of its ability to filter all fundamental components.

One of the stress sources that can be used in dynamic elastography imaging methods is the acoustic radiation force. However, displacements of the medium induced by this stress field are generally not fully understood in terms of spatial distribution and temporal evolution. A model has been developed based on the elastodynamic Green's function describing the different acoustic waves generated by focused ultrasound. The function is composed of three terms: two far-field terms, which correspond to a purely longitudinal compression wave and a purely transverse shear wave, and a coupling near-field term which has a longitudinal component and a transverse component. For propagation distances in the shear wavelength range, the predominant term is the near field term. The displacement duration corresponds to the propagation duration of the shear wave between the farthest source point and the observation point. This time therefore depends on the source size and the local shear modulus of the tissue. Evolution of the displacement/time curve profile, which is directly linked to spatial and temporal source profiles, is computed at different radial distances, for different durations of force applications and different shear elastic coefficients. Experimental results performed with an optical interferometric method in a homogeneous tissue-mimicking phantom agreed with the theoretical profiles.

A tissue deformability image is obtained with the vibroacoustography imaging method using mechanical low-frequency (LF) excitation. This ultrasonic excitation is created locally by means of a focused annular array emitting two primary beams at two close frequencies, f(1) and f(2) (f(2) = f(1) + f(LF)). The LF acoustic emission resulting from the vibration of the medium is detected by a sensitive hydrophone and then used to form the image. This noninvasive imaging method was demonstrated in this study to be suitable for bone imaging, with x and y transverse resolutions less than 300 micro m. Two bone sites susceptible to demineralization were tested: the calcaneus and the neck of the femur. The vibroacoustic method provides valuable ultrasonic images regarding the structure and the elastic properties of bone tissue. Correlation was made between vibroacoustic bone images, performed in vitro, and images acquired by other imaging methods (i.e., bone ultrasound attenuation and x-ray computerized tomography (CT)). Moreover, the amplitudes of vibroacoustic signals radiating from phosphocalcic ceramic samples (bone substitute) of different porosity were evaluated. The good correlation between these results and the description of our images and the quality of vibroacoustic images indicate that bone decalcification could be detected using vibroacoustography.