Gaussian-DPSM (G-DPSM) and Element Source Method (ESM) modifications to DPSM for ultrasonic field modeling

In the last few years, Distributed Point Source Method (DPSM) a mesh-free semi-analytical technique has been developed. In spite of its many advantages, one shortcoming of the conventional DPSM method is that the field obtained by conventional DPSM method needs to be scaled to match the theoretical solutions. Two modification techniques called Gaussian-DPSM (G-DPSM) and Element Source Method (ESM) are developed here to avoid the scaling need. G-DPSM technique introduces additional fictitious point sources around every parent point source. Gaussian weight functions determine the strength of these additional fictitious point sources that are denoted as child point sources. ESM replaces discrete point sources used in the conventional DPSM by continuous sources. In the ESM formulation individual point sources are denoted as nodes. Special elements are formed on the boundary by connecting these nodes. The source strength inside the element can vary linearly or non-linearly depending on the order of the interpolation function used inside the element. Results generated by both these methods are compared with the conventional DPSM solution and analytical solution. It is shown that the ultrasonic field in front of the transducer computed by G-DPSM and ESM matches very well with the theory without using any scaling factor.

Research highlights
► A new and very efficient technique called Element Source Method (ESM) is introduced.
► It is shown that this technique (ESM) is very useful for ultrasonic field modeling.
► ESM and Distributed Point Source Method (DPSM) predicted results are compared.
► Superiority of ESM in comparison to Gaussian-DPSM (G-DPSM) is also established.