Abstract

Estimation of effective Poissons ratio in non-homogeneous porous media using two ultrasound transducers: A feasibility study

Author(s): Anuj Chaudhry

Ultrasound poroelastography techniques aim at assessing the poroelastic response of materials to prolonged loading by estimating and mapping the time-dependent distribution of the local axial strain and lateral-to-axial strain ratio, often referred to as the effective Poissons ratio (EPR). Theoretically, both axial stain and EPR elastograms can convey information about the underlying mechanical properties of the poroelastic material. However, the image quality of EPR elastograms is limited by the poor quality of standard lateral strain estimation. In this paper, we investigate a new method to estimate EPR in non-homogeneous porous media using two linear array transducers. We test the feasibility of this technique using finite-element analysis and experimental validation. The results of this study suggest that, using this new technique, it is feasible to estimate the temporal behavior of EPR with significantly higher image quality than previously possible.