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At least 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Three dimensional full-wave nonlinear acoustic simulations: Applications to ultrasound imaging

Characterization of acoustic waves that propagate nonlinearly in an inhomogeneous medium has significant applications to diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound. The generation of an ultrasound image of human tissue is based on the complex physics of acoustic wave propagation: diffraction, reflection, scattering, frequency dependent attenuation, and nonlinearity. The nonlinearity of wave propagation is used to the advantage of diagnostic scanners that use the harmonic components of the ultrasonic signal to improve the resolution and penetration of clinical scanners. One approach to simulating ultrasound images is to make approximations that can reduce the physics to systems that have a low computational cost. Here a maximalist approach is taken and the full three dimensional wave physics is simulated with finite differences. This paper demonstrates how finite difference simulations for the nonlinear acoustic wave equation can be used to generate physically realistic two and three dimensional ultrasound images anywhere in the body. A specific intercostal liver imaging scenario for two cases: with the ribs in place, and with the ribs removed. This configuration provides an imaging scenario that cannot be performed in vivo but that can test the influence of the ribs on image quality. Several imaging properties are studied, in particular the beamplots, the spatial coherence at the transducer surface, the distributed phase aberration, and the lesion detectability for imaging at the fundamental and harmonic frequencies. The results indicate, counterintuitively, that at the fundamental frequency the beamplot improves due to the apodization effect of the ribs but at the same time there is more degradation from reverberation clutter. At the harmonic frequency there is significantly less improvement in the beamplot and also significantly less degradation from reverberation. It is shown that even though simulating the full propagation physics is computationally challenging it is necessary to quantify ultrasound image quality and its sources of degradation.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
NASA NTRS1972

Laser amplification in an inhomogeneous plasma

The propagation of an electromagnetic wave into an inhomogeneous plasma was studied. In a plasma with large density gradients a QTX mode propagating perpendicular to the magnetic field can encounter a resonance and a cutoff separated by a distance comparable to the incident wave length. In this region the wave is evanescent, and in general there will be a reflected and transmitted wave, and amplification will occur in the region near the resonance. The amplification is important for the study of nonlinear phenomena and for feedback stabilization applications.

White, R.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Generation and Radiation of Acoustic Waves from a 2-D Shear Layer

A parallel numerical simulation of the radiation of sound from an acoustic source inside a 2-D jet is presented in this paper. This basic benchmark problem is used as a test case for scattering problems that are presently being solved by using the Impedance Mismatch Method (IMM). In this technique, a solid body in the domain is represented by setting the acoustic impedance of each medium, encountered by a wave, to a different value. This impedance discrepancy results in reflected and scattered waves with appropriate amplitudes. The great advantage of the use of this method is that no modifications to a simple Cartesian grid need to be made for complicated geometry bodies. Thus, high order finite difference schemes may be applied simply to all parts of the domain. In the IMM, the total perturbation field is split into incident and scattered fields. The incident pressure is assumed to be known and the equivalent sources for the scattered field are associated with the presence of the scattering body (through the impedance mismatch) and the propagation of the incident field through a non-uniform flow. An earlier version of the technique could only handle uniform flow in the vicinity of the source and at the outflow boundary. Scattering problems in non-uniform mean flow are of great practical importance (for example, scattering from a high lift device in a non-uniform mean flow or the effects of a fuselage boundary layer). The solution to this benchmark problem, which has an acoustic wave propagating through a non-uniform mean flow, serves as a test case for the extensions of the IMM technique.

Agarwal, Anurag↗
DOE OSTI2018

The Effect of Specular Reflectances on the Interaction of an Electromagnetic E Wave with a Thin Metal Film Placed between Two Dielectric Media

The interaction of an electromagnetic E wave with a thin metal film placed between two dielectric media is calculated in the case of different specular reflectances q{sub 1} and q{sub 2} for the reflection of electrons from the surface of the thin metal layer, in the case of variations in the values of dielectric permittivities ε{sub 1} and ε{sub 2} of the media, and in the case of different values of angle of incidence θ of the electromagnetic wave. The behavior of reflection coefficient R, transmission coefficient T, and absorption coefficient A in relation to the frequency of the external field is analyzed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS2011

Receive Mode Analysis and Design of Microstrip Reflectarrays

Traditionally microstrip or printed reflectarrays are designed using the transmit mode technique. In this method, the size of each printed element is chosen so as to provide the required value of the reflection phase such that a collimated beam results along a given direction. The reflection phase of each printed element is approximated using an infinite array model. The infinite array model is an excellent engineering approximation for a large microstrip array since the size or orientation of elements exhibits a slow spatial variation. In this model, the reflection phase from a given printed element is approximated by that of an infinite array of elements of the same size and orientation when illuminated by a local plane wave. Thus the reflection phase is a function of the size (or orientation) of the element, the elevation and azimuth angles of incidence of a local plane wave, and polarization. Typically, one computes the reflection phase of the infinite array as a function of several parameters such as size/orientation, elevation and azimuth angles of incidence, and in some cases for vertical and horizontal polarization. The design requires the selection of the size/orientation of the printed element to realize the required phase by interpolating or curve fitting all the computed data. This is a substantially complicated problem, especially in applications requiring a computationally intensive commercial code to determine the reflection phase. In dual polarization applications requiring rectangular patches, one needs to determine the reflection phase as a function of five parameters (dimensions of the rectangular patch, elevation and azimuth angles of incidence, and polarization). This is an extremely complex problem. The new method employs the reciprocity principle and reaction concept, two well-known concepts in electromagnetics to derive the receive mode analysis and design techniques. In the "receive mode design" technique, the reflection phase is computed for a plane wave incident on the reflectarray from the direction of the beam peak. In antenna applications with a single collimated beam, this method is extremely simple since all printed elements see the same angles of incidence. Thus the number of parameters is reduced by two when compared to the transmit mode design. The reflection phase computation as a function of five parameters in the rectangular patch array discussed previously is reduced to a computational problem with three parameters in the receive mode. Furthermore, if the beam peak is in the broadside direction, the receive mode design is polarization independent and the reflection phase computation is a function of two parameters only. For a square patch array, it is a function of the size, one parameter only, thus making it extremely simple.

Rengarajan, Sembiam↗
NASA NTRS1979

A theory of stationary long waves. III - Quasi-normal modes in a singular waveguide

The present paper deals with the fundamental issue of whether one can treat waves as normal modes when critical surface, where the phase speed of the wave matches the zonal wind speed, are present. In particular the question of whether a Rossby critical level (such as the zero-wind line for stationary waves) is absorbing or reflecting is raised and subsequently addressed. It is found that the critical level is never totally absorbing; Rossby waves are partially reflected even if the critical layer is dominated by dissipative processes. The relevance of nonlinearity in planetary-scale Rossby wave critical layers is also discussed and it is found to be the dominant mechanism. With the relative magnitudes of nonlinearity versus viscosity relevant to the earth's atmosphere it is found that the steady-state critical level should be almost perfectly reflecting to incident Rossby waves. Consequently, normal-mode solutions can be found; the quantization condition for these waves is also derived.

Tung, K. K.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Elastic waves at periodically-structured surfaces and interfaces of solids

This paper presents a simple treatment of elastic wave scattering at periodically structured surfaces and interfaces of solids, and the existence and nature of surface acoustic waves (SAW) and interfacial (IW) waves at such structures. Our treatment is embodied in phenomenological models in which the periodicity resides in the boundary conditions. These yield zone folding and band gaps at the boundary of, and within the Brillouin zone. Above the transverse bulk wave threshold, there occur leaky or pseudo-SAW and pseudo-IW, which are attenuated via radiation into the bulk wave continuum. These have a pronounced effect on the transmission and reflection of bulk waves. We provide examples of pseudo-SAW and pseudo-IW for which the coupling to the bulk wave continuum vanishes at isloated points in the dispersion relation. These supersonic guided waves correspond to embedded discrete eigenvalues within a radiation continuum. We stress the generality of the phenomena that are exhibited at widely different scales of length and frequency, and their relevance to situations as diverse as the guiding of seismic waves in mine stopes, the metrology of periodic metal interconnect structures in the semiconductor industry, and elastic wave scattering by an array of coplanar cracks in a solid.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Report on Depth-Dependent Q from Frequency-Dependent Lg Q

As a phase that travels through the crustal waveguide, Lg samples the velocity and attenuation structure of the crust. We have developed methods (Pasyanos et al., 2009a; Pasyanos et al., 2009b) to estimate Qp and Qs of the crust and upper mantle from the amplitudes of regional phases, and have applied it to a number of regions around the world, and over a broad frequency band (0.5 - 10 Hz). In prior attenuation modeling, Lg phase amplitudes are able to effectively distinguish the high Q (low attenuation) of old stable cratonic crust from the low Q (high attenuation) of more recently active tectonic regions. For a variety of purposes (e.g. waveform modeling, seismic hazard, etc.), it is useful to have more information on the depth-dependence of the Q structure in the crust. One obvious candidate for doing this is using the frequency-dependence information of Lg Q, in the manner of surface waves. Unfortunately, however, Lg samples the whole of the crust without much differentiation with respect to frequency that is characteristic of fundamental mode surface waves. Lg is generally thought to be the sum of supercritically reflected S-waves trapped in the crustal waveguide (e.g. Xie and Lay, 1994). The phase can also be modeled as a superposition of surface waves. At lower frequencies, it is primarily composed of fundamental and low-order surface waves, while at higher frequencies, it is comprised purely of many high-order surface waves. The low-order surface waves that comprise Lg in low frequency bands (< 1 Hz) are preferentially sensitive to shallow earth structure, such as sedimentary basins and upper crust, while high-order surface waves have a more homogenized sensitivity to the whole crust. Furthermore, at the lower frequencies, we might expect to see some differentiation in the sensitivity between early Lg (herein referred to as Lg1) and late Lg (referred to as Lg2) where the latter is comprised of lower-order surface waves and, hence, shallower structure. Therefore, we might expect to see the signature of shallow features, primarily the lower Q of sediments as compared to crystalline crust, at lower frequencies and in later arriving Lg amplitudes.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2015

Propagation of acoustic shock waves between parallel rigid boundaries and into shadow zones

The study of acoustic shock propagation in complex environments is of great interest for urban acoustics, but also for source localization, an underlying problematic in military applications. To give a better understanding of the phenomenon taking place during the propagation of acoustic shocks, laboratory-scale experiments and numerical simulations were performed to study the propagation of weak shock waves between parallel rigid boundaries, and into shadow zones created by corners. In particular, this work focuses on the study of the local interactions taking place between incident, reflected, and diffracted waves according to the geometry in both regular or irregular – also called Von Neumann – regimes of reflection. In this latter case, an irregular reflection can lead to the formation of a Mach stem that can modify the spatial distribution of the acoustic pressure. Short duration acoustic shock waves were produced by a 20 kilovolts electric spark source and a schlieren optical method was used to visualize the incident shockfront and the reflection/diffraction patterns. Experimental results are compared to numerical simulations based on the high-order finite difference solution of the two dimensional Navier-Stokes equations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Self-focusing of cosh-Gaussian laser beam and its effect on the excitation of ion-acoustic wave and stimulated Brillouin backscattering in collisionless plasma

An analytical and numerical study has been carried out for self-focusing of an intense cosh-Gaussian laser beam in collisionless plasma and its impact on the excitation of ion-acoustic wave and stimulated Brillouin backscattering process. The analytical model has been developed under Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin and paraxial ray approximations. The nonlinearities of ponderomotive force on electron and the relativistic oscillation of the electron mass have been used in this study. The nonlinear differential equations have been set up for the beam width parameters of the main beam, ion-acoustic wave, backscattered wave and back reflectivity of stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS). These equations have been solved numerically for different values of decentred parameter (b), relative plasma density (ω{sub p0}/ω{sub 0}) and incident laser intensity (a). The results have been compared with only relativistic nonlinearity and Gaussian profile of laser beam. The focusing of laser beam, ion-acoustic wave and scattered wave are found to be strong under relativistic-ponderomotive regime compared to only relativistic regime. Further, it is observed that focusing/intensity of main laser beam, ion acoustic wave and SBS back reflectivity increases with increasing the values of b and ω{sub p0}/ω{sub 0}. Itis also found that back reflectivity of SBS process gets suppressed with the increase in the value of a. This study may be useful in laser induced fusion scheme where back scattering of SBS plays very important role.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Quasi-resonant enhancement of a grazing diffracted wave and deep suppression of specular reflection on shallow metal gratings in terahertz

We report on a previously unexamined anomaly at diffraction of THz radiation on metal gratings. This anomaly consists in a nearly complete redirection of energy to a non-specular homogeneous diffraction order propagating at a specific grazing angle and deep suppression of the specular reflection. We show that this anomaly is located far enough from the well-known one caused by the resonant excitation of the surface plasmon-polariton. The effect under consideration is of general nature and can exist in all spectrum regions; however, it is especially pronounced in THz region, where it should be taken into account when analyzing relevant experimental results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2021

A New Approach to Predict Hydrogeological Parameters Using Shear Waves from the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves Method

For near-surface contaminant characterization, the accurate prediction of hydrogeological parameters in anisotropic and heterogeneous environments has been a challenge since the last decades. However, recent advances in near-surface geophysics have facilitated the use of geophysical data for hydrogeological characterization in the last few years. A pseudo 3-D high resolution P-wave shallow seismic reflection survey was performed at the P Reactor Area, Savannah River Site, South Carolina in order to delineate and predict migration pathways of a large contaminant plume including trichloroethylene. This contaminant plume originates from the northwest section of the reactor facility that is located within the Upper Atlantic Coastal Plain. The data were collected with 40 Hz geophones, an accelerated weight-drop as seismic source and 1 m receiver spacing with near- and far-offsets of 0.5 and 119.5 m, respectively. In such areas with near-surface contaminants, a detailed subsurface characterization of the vadose zone hydraulic parameters is very important. Indeed, an inexpensive method of deriving such parameters by the use of seismic reflection surveys is beneficial, and our approach uses the relationship between seismic velocity and hydrogeological parameters together with empirical observations relating porosity to permeability and hydraulic conductivity. Shear wave velocity ( V s ) profiles were estimated from surface wave dispersion analysis of the seismic reflection data and were subsequently used to derive hydraulic parameters such as porosity, permeability, and hydraulic conductivity. Additional geophysical data including core samples, vertical seismic profiling, surface electrical resistivity tomography, natural gamma and electrical resistivity logs allowed for a robust assessment of the validity and geological significance of the estimated V s and hydrogeological models. The results demonstrate the usefulness of this approach for the upper 15 m of shallow unconsolidated sediments even though the survey design parameters were not optimal for surface wave analysis due to the higher than desired frequency geophones.

Engineering↗
NASA NTRS1975

A new interpretation of subprotonospheric whistler characteristics

Propagation paths of subprotonospheric (SP) whistlers are studied on the basis of Ogo 4 satellite data and ray tracing. SP whistler components picked up at a point in the ionosphere are associated with wave packets entering the lower ionosphere at different latitudes and traversing different paths. Reflection of a downcoming SP whistler component near the ion cutoff frequency is accompanied by a tone whose frequency increases with time. Horizontal gradients in the ionosphere are shown to play a major role in reflection of ELF waves at heights of about 1000 km. The combination of SP whistler and rising-tone component is examined as a possible useful diagnostic probe of the plasma structure of the ionosphere.

Raghuram, R.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Reflection Spectrum of Two Level Atoms by an Evanescent Laser Wave

An exact solution and numerical calculation of the reflection of two level atoms by atomic mirror are presented. The curve of reflection coefficient against Rabi frequency calculated shows some new features, and the physical machanism underlying is analyzed.

Tan, Weihan↗
NASA NTRS1981

Instabilities of low frequency, parallel propagating electromagnetic waves in the earth's foreshock region

An instability analysis is presented for parallel and antiparallel propagating electromagnetic waves generated by reflected and diffuse suprathermal ions upstream of the earth's bow shock. Calculations are performed on the basis of upstream particle observations made by the ISEE 1 Quadrispheric Lepedea instrument and low-energy electron measurements made by the ISEE 1 electron spectrometer for a single period. The electromagnetic dispersion relation is computed and the unstable modes and growth times of the fastest growing waves are determined. It is found that the reflected ions destabilize the plasma most strongly at a wave frequency 0.1 that of the ion gyrofrequency by a resonant ion beam instability for waves propagating upstream and by a nonresonant firehose-like instability for waves propagating downstream. The diffuse ions also destabilize the plasma most strongly at the same frequency by means of resonant instabilities of both right- and left-hand polarized waves propagating away from the bow shock.

Sentman, D. D.↗
NASA NTRS1989

A CCIR aeronautical mobile satellite report

Propagation effects in the aeronautical mobile-satellite service differ from those in the fixed-satellite service and other mobile-satellite services because: small antennas are used on aircraft, and the aircraft body may affect the performance of the antenna; high aircraft speeds cause large Doppler spreads; aircraft terminals must accommodate a large dynamic range in transmission and reception; and due to their high speeds, banking maneuvers, and three-dimensional operation, aircraft routinely require exceptionally high integrity of communications, making even short-term propagation effects very important. Data and models specifically required to characterize the path impairments are discussed, which include: tropospheric effects, including gaseous attenuation, cloud and rain attenuation, fog attenuation, refraction and scintillation; surface reflection (multipath) effects; ionospheric effects such as scintillation; and environmental effects (aircraft motion, sea state, land surface type). Aeronautical mobile-satellite systems may operate on a worldwide basis, including propagation paths at low elevation angles. Several measurements of multipath parameters over land and sea were conducted. In some cases, laboratory simulations are used to compare measured data and verify model parameters. The received signals is considered in terms of its possible components: a direct wave subject to atmospheric effects, and a reflected wave, which generally contains mostly a diffuse component.

Davarian, Faramaz↗