Wave propagation at the human muscle-compact bone interface

Abstract

Due to the improvement of the signal processing and image technology, the clinical ultrasound system becomes an important tool to assist doctors in detecting diseases. Hence, it is necessary to know the biological effects of ultrasound in human tissue. In ultrasonic waves, the discrepancy between classic elasticity and experimental elasticity becomes a particularly important problem, especially when there are higher frequencies and smaller wavelengths, i.e., in the case of wave propagation in human muscle and compact bone. Consequently, the influence of the microstructure is important and this fact leads to the generation of new types of waves unknown in classic elasticity. General continuum theories, such as couple stress theory and micropolar theory, have degrees of freedom in addition to those of classic elasticity. Such theories are thought to be applicable to composites with granular or porous structure, effective chiral composite, and human compact bone. In this work, a theoretical analysis concerning the reflected and transmitted fields of an incident plane wave P propagating at the human muscle-compact bone interface has been investigated. The results show that the wave fields are affected by microstructures of the human bone. Knowledge of this occurrence may offer some contribution to the understanding of the ultrasound propagation in the biological effects of human tissue.