Acoustic Wave Equation Simulation Using FDTD

Full wave simulations provide a vivid tool for studying both the spatial and temporal nature of acoustic field. The paper deals with description of an example implementation of finite-difference time-domain method (FDTD) for ultrasound field full wave simulation. Presented solution is intended to be apart of software for ultrasound field modeling, currently in the state of development. As a model for the propagation of ultrasound, the Westervelt equation was used. Therefore, both linear and nonlinear propagation effects can be taken into account. Modeling of nonlinear ultrasound propagation is valuable for example in predicting of biological tissue heating due to gradual energy accumulation in higher order harmonics of the distorted ultrasound signal. This is not possible with common linear propagation models.