Finite element simulation of nonlinear wave propagation in thermoviscous fluids including dissipation

A recently developed finite element method (FEM) for the numerical simulation of nonlinear sound wave propagation in thermoviscous fluids is presented. Based on the nonlinear wave equation as derived by Kuznetsov, typical effects associated with nonlinear acoustics, such as generation of higher harmonics and dissipation resulting from the propagation of a finite amplitude wave through a thermoviscous medium, are covered. An efficient time-stepping algorithm based on a modification of the standard Newmark method is used for solving the nonlinear semidiscrete equation system. The method is verified by comparison with the well-known Fubini and Fay solutions for plane wave problems, where good agreement is found. As a practical application, a high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) source is considered. Impedance simulations of the piezoelectric transducer and the complete HIFU source loaded with air and water are performed and compared with measured data. Measurements of radiated low and high amplitude pressure pulses are compared with corresponding simulation results. The obtained good agreement demonstrates validity and applicability of the nonlinear FEM.