Radiation impedance of a finite circular piston on a viscoelastic half-space with application to medical diagnosis

In a recent study a new analytical solution was developed and validated experimentally for the problem of surface wave generation on a linear viscoelastic half-space by a rigid circular disk located on the surface and oscillating normal to it. The results of that study suggested that, for the low audible frequency range, some previously reported values of shear viscosity for soft biological tissues may be inaccurate. Those values were determined by matching radiation impedance measurements with theoretical calculations reported previously. In the current study, the sensitivity to shear viscoelastic material constants of theoretical solutions for radiation impedance and surface wave motion are compared. Theoretical solutions are also compared to experimental measurements and numerical results from finite-element analysis. It is found that, while prior theoretical solutions for radiation impedance are accurate, use of such measurements to estimate shear viscoelastic constants is not as precise as the use of surface wave measurements. (C) 2001 Acoustical Society of America.