Nonlinear acoustic propagation simulation tools: Comparison of BBGASM and INCS up to the fifth harmonic component

The linear propagation of ultrasound in tissue is a simplification of reality because harmonics are formed during propagation. Following the increase of medical applications based on nonlinear propagation, various simulation tools are developed that can model this phenomenon. In this paper we propose to compare two of these tools, BBGASM and INCS, and in particular to evaluate their accuracy and identify their advantages and drawbacks. While INCS provides more accurate results, BBGASM results in a shorter computation time. For both tools, the complete nonlinear spectrum is computed up to the fifth harmonic component.