Linearization strategies for the Iterative Nonlinear Contrast source method for full-wave simulation of nonlinear ultrasound fields

The Iterative Nonlinear Contrast Source (INCS) method is a full-wave method for the accurate computation of wide-angle, pulsed, nonlinear ultrasound fields appearing in, e.g., medical echoscopy. The method is based on the Westervelt equation and considers the occurring nonlinear term as a distributed contrast source that operates in a linear background medium. This formulation leads to an integral equation, which is solved in an iterative way. The original INCS method uses a Neumann scheme to successively approximate the nonlinear wave field in homogeneous, lossless, nonlinear media. To cope with attenuative and/or inhomogeneous nonlinear media, additional contrast sources may be introduced. Since these deteriorate the convergence rate of the Neumann scheme, more advanced iterative solution schemes like Bi-CGSTAB are required. To overcome the difficulty that such schemes only apply to linear integral equations, the nonlinear contrast source is linearized, at the cost of a significant systematic error in the fourth and higher harmonics. In this paper, a strategy is proposed in which the relevant iterative solution scheme is restarted with an updated version of the linearized contrast source. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of this strategy in eliminating the systematic error. In addition, it is shown that the same approach also improves the convergence rate in case of nonlinear propagation in media with attenuation.