A two-dimensional finite difference model of shear wave propagation in anisotropic soft tissue

A rotated-staggered grid finite difference algorithm solves the stiff problem that occurs in conventional grid finite difference calculations when simulating elastic wave propagation in anisotropic soft tissue. The grid is formed by rotated rectangles with displacement values on the vertices. In addition, the strain values are located at the center of each mesh cell. Simulations of elastic wave propagation using the rotated-staggered grid scheme are performed in transversely isotropic media, and the results show that the rotated-staggered grid scheme is effective for soft tissue, which has a relatively large bulk-to-shear wave speed ratio.