Acoustic intensity for a long vessel with noncircular cross section.

The acoustic intensity distribution around and within long vessels of noncircular cross section was investigated for parameters typical of biomedical ultrasound and blood vessels. We have developed a collocation method for finding the acoustic field when a uniform plane wave is obliquely incident on a long, not necessarily cylindrical, impedance interface. Results are presented for vessels of noncircular cross section and for vessels with thick walls of nonuniform thickness. The intensity in the vicinity of the vessel, throughout the lumen, and in the wall, is calculated for intermediate length scales, i.e., vessel radius and wall thickness in the range 1 to 10 wavelengths. The intensity distribution is an interference pattern, with complicated regions of increased and decreased intensity. These results are compared with approximate intensity obtained using ray theory. Effects not predicted by ray theory and intensity variations that will be significant in any close ultrasonic investigation of these vessels are revealed.