Virtual Special Topic — Acoustics
We used the spheroidal beam equation to calculate the sound field created by focusing a transducer with a wide aperture angle to obtain the heat deposition, and then we used the Pennes bioheat equation to calculate the temperature field in biological tissue with ribs and to ascertain the effects of rib parameters on the temperature field. The results show that the location and the gap width between the ribs have a great influence on the axial and radial temperature rise of multilayer biological tissue. With a decreasing gap width, the location of the maximum temperature rise moves forward; as the ribs are closer to the transducer surface, the sound energy that passes through the gap between the ribs at the focus decreases, the maximum temperature rise decreases, and the location of the maximum temperature rise moves forward with the ribs.
Unsteady wake from upstream components of landing gear impinging on downstream components could be a strong noise source. The use of a plane jet is proposed to reduce this flow-induced noise. Tandem rods with different gap widths were utilized as the test body. Both acoustic and aerodynamic tests were conducted in order to validate this technique. Acoustic test results proved that overall noise emission from tandem rods could be lowered and tonal noise could be removed with use of the plane jet. However, when the plane jet was turned on, in some frequency range it could be the subsequent main contributor instead of tandem rods to total noise emission whilst in some frequency range rods could still be the main contributor. Moreover, aerodynamic tests fundamentally studied explanations for the noise reduction. Specifically, not only impinging speed to rods but speed and turbulence level to the top edge of the rear rod could be diminished by the upstream plane jet. Consequently, the vortex shedding induced by the rear rod was reduced, which was confirmed by the speed, Reynolds stress as well as the velocity fluctuation spectral measured in its wake. This study confirmed the potential use of a plane jet towards landing gear noise reduction.
We investigate transcranial magneto-acoustical stimulation (TMAS) for noninvasive brain neuromodulation in vivo. TMAS as a novel technique uses an ultrasound wave to induce an electric current in the brain tissue in the static magnetic field. It has the advantage of high spatial resolution and penetration depth. The mechanism of TMAS onto a neuron is analyzed by combining the TMAS principle and Hodgkin-Huxley neuron model. The anesthetized rats are stimulated by TMAS, resulting in the local field potentials which are recorded and analyzed. The simulation results show that TMAS can induce neuronal action potential. The experimental results indicate that TMAS can not only increase the amplitude of local field potentials but also enhance the effect of focused ultrasound stimulation on the neuromodulation. In summary, TMAS can accomplish brain neuromodulation, suggesting a potentially powerful noninvasive stimulation method to interfere with brain rhythms for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.
A complete understanding of the bubble dynamics is deemed necessary in order to achieve their full potential applications in industry and medicine. For this purpose it is first needed to expand our knowledge of a single bubble behavior under different possible conditions including the frequency and pressure variations of the sound field. In addition, stimulated scattering of sound on a bubble is a special effect in sound field, and its characteristics are associated with bubble oscillation mode. A bubble in liquid can be considered as a representative example of nonlinear dynamical system theory with its resonance, and its dynamics characteristics can be described by the Keller-Miksis equation. The nonlinear dynamics of an acoustically excited gas bubble in water is investigated by using theoretical and numerical analysis methods. Our results show its strongly nonlinear behavior with respect to the pressure amplitude and excitation frequency as the control parameters, and give an intuitive insight into stimulated sound scattering on a bubble. It is seen that the stimulated sound scattering is different from common dynamical behaviors, such as bifurcation and chaos, which is the result of the nonlinear resonance of a bubble under the excitation of a high amplitude acoustic sound wave essentially. The numerical analysis results show that the threshold of stimulated sound scattering is smaller than those of bifurcation and chaos in the common condition.