Calculation of pressure fields from arbitrarily shaped, apodized, and excited ultrasound transducers

TLDR

The paper proposes a method to simulate pulsed pressure fields from arbitrarily shaped, apodized, and excited ultrasound transducers. The method uses the Tupholme‑Stepanishen approach, dividing the transducer surface into small rectangles, summing their responses, and applying a far‑field approximation to enable fast calculation for continuous wave, pulse‑echo, and pulsed cases. The approach is shown to be accurate and computationally efficient, with example results demonstrating its performance.

Abstract

A method for simulation of pulsed pressure fields from arbitrarily shaped, apodized and excited ultrasound transducers is suggested. It relies on the Tupholme-Stepanishen method for calculating pulsed pressure fields, and can also handle the continuous wave and pulse-echo case. The field is calculated by dividing the surface into small rectangles and then Summing their response. A fast calculation is obtained by using the far-field approximation. Examples of the accuracy of the approach and actual calculation times are given.