Direct and inverse scattering problem in cancellous bone:

application of Biot theory

N. Sebaa
Laboratorium voor Akoestiek en Thermische Fysica, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Celestijnenlaan Heverlee, Belguim

Z.E.A. Fellah
Laboratoire de Mcanique et dAcoustique, chemin Joseph Aiguier, Marseille, France

W. Lauriks
Laboratorium voor Akoestiek en Thermische Fysica, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven,
Celestijnenlaan, Heverlee, Belguim

C. Depollier
Laboratoire dAcoustique de lUniversit du Maine, France

In this paper direct and inverse scattering problems of ultrasonic pulses from cancellous bone are investigated.
Reflection and transmission coefficients are derived for a slab of cancellous bone having an elastic frame
using Biots theory. The inverse problem for waves transmitted by cancellous bone is solved at normal incidence.
Experimental results for slow and fast waves transmitted through cancellous bone samples are given and compared
with theoretical predictions.

1 INTRODUCTION move out of phase. Fast and slow waves were identified
independently in bovine trabecular bone in the late
Osteoporosis is a disease caused by biochemical and 1990s by Hosokawa and Otani (4).
hormonal changes, affecting the equilibrium between
the resorption and deposition of new bony tissue.
2 MODEL
It leads to modification of the structure (porosity
and thickness of trabeculae) and composition (min-
The equation of motion for the frame and fluid are
eral density) of this material. There has been much
given by the Euler equations applied to Lagrangian
discussion on changes in trabecular pattern due to
density. In this case, the equations of motion can be
osteoporosis, but general indications are that the tra-
written in the following form:
beculae grow thinner, possibly disappearing, and are
therefore more widely spaced. Early clinical detec-
tion of this pathology via ultrasonic characterization
would be of fundamental interest. Since trabecular
bone is an inhomogeneous porous medium, the inter-
action between ultrasound and bone will be highly
complex. Modelling ultrasonic propagation through
trabecular tissue has been considered using porous
media theories, such as Biots theory (1). Applica-
tions of Biots theory to trabecular bone have enjoyed
varying degrees of success (2)(4). The theory pre- Here u and U are the displacements of the solid and
dicts two compressional waves: a fast wave, where the fluid phases. In these Eqs. (1) and (2), P, Q and R are
fluid (blood and marrow) and solid (calcified tissue) generalized elastic constants which are related, to the
move in phase, and a slow wave where fluid and solid (porosity), Kf (bulk modulus of pore fluid), Ks (bulk

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
modulus of the elastic solid) and Kb (bulk modulus of
porous skeletal frame). N is the shear modulus of the
composite as well as that of the skeletal frame. The
equations which explicitly relate P, Q and R to , Kf ,
Ks , Kb and N are given by:
scalar and vector displacement potentials, respectively.
Two scalar potentials for the frame and the fluid, s
and f , are defined for compressional waves giving:
u = s et U = f .
Eqs. (1) and (2) become, in the frequency domain,

where  is the Laplacian, s and f are the Fourier

transform of s and f , we note s () the Fourier
transform of t defined by
Other share, we have Ks , Kb , N are written
by: Ks = Es /3(1 2s ), Kb = Eb /3(1 2b ) and
N = Eb /2(1 + b ), where Es , Eb are the Youngs mod-
ulus of solid and skeleton respectively and s , b are
Poisson coefficient of solid and skeleton respectively. the matrix M is given by
The Biot coefficients, mn = mn + [(1)m+n (2 /
jk0 )], where = 2f is the angular frequency and
mn are the mass coefficients which are related to
the densities of solid (s ) and fluid (f ) phases by
11 + 12 = (1 )s and 12 + 22 = f .The coeffi-
cient represents the mass coupling parameter between
the fluid and solid phases and is always negative
12 = f ( 1), being the tortuosity of the
medium. If the dynamic tortuosity () is defined
by () = j (3 /k0 f ), mass and viscous cou- and A = 2 ( /) f ,
plings appear in the same function, and mn = mn
when () is used in place of . The parts of the
fluid affected by this exchange can be estimated by
the ratio of a microscopic characteristic length of the
medium, for example pore sizes, to the viscous skin
depth thickness = (2/f )1/2 . At high frequencies, Coefficients R , P and Q are given by R = R/
viscous skin thickness is very thin. The viscous effects, PR Q2 , Q = Q/PR Q2 , P = P/PR Q2 . The
which are concentrated in a small volume near the sur- solution of equation is two distinct longitudinal modes
face of the frame
r, where r is the size of pore, can which are called fast and slow. The system (5) can be
be neglected. In this domain of frequencies , we used written on a basis of fast and slow waves 1 and 2 ,
the dynamic tortuosity function (5) given by: respectively by

where is the tortuosity and  is the viscous
characteristic length.
When () is used instead of in 11 , 12 and 22 ,
these coefficients are given by:
where 1 () and 2 () are frequency coefficients
given the eigenvalues of
the system (5). Their expres-
sion are
1 = tr(M ) tr 2 (M ) 4det(M )/2, 2 =
tr(M ) + tr 2 (M ) 4det(M )/2, where tr(M ) and
det(M ) are the trace and determinant for matrix(M),
respectively.
For wave propagation along the x axis, the solutions
for Eq.(5) are given by

2.1 Longitudinal waves

As in the case of an elastic solid, the wave equations of
dilatational and rotational waves can be obtained using

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
the functions  1 (), 
1 (), 
2 () and 
2 () can be
determined by the boundary conditions at the porous
medium interfaces. The eigenvectors (1, 1 ()) and
(1, 2 ()) associated with the eigenvalues 1 () and
2 () link the fluid and solid potentials s and f ,
respectively, to the fast and slow waves 1 and 2
through the following relation: Figure 1. Geometrical representation.

where the asterisk denotes the time convolution in

Eqs.(14) and (15). The Fourier transform of the field
outside the materials are given by
The eigenvectors 1 () and 2 () are given by

2.2 Reflection and transmission coefficients

When a sound wave in the fluid impinges upon a
Here P1 (x, ) and P3 (x, ) are respectively, the Fourier
porous medium at normal incidence, part of it is
transform of p1 (x, t) and p2 (x, t) respectively, ()
reflected back into the fluid, part is transmitted into
is the Fourier transform of the incident field pi (t),
the porous medium as a fast wave, and part is trans-
and finally R() and T () are Fourier transforms of
mitted as a slow wave, The problem geometry is show
the reflection and transmission operators, respectively.
in Fig. 1. A short sound pulse impinges normally on the
Then we use the appropriate boundary conditions at the
medium from the left. It generates solid and fluid dis-
interfaces x = 0 and x = L, we obtain the expressions
placements u and U , respectively, inside the porous
of the reflection and transmission coefficients. The
medium, which satisfies the propagation equations
expression of the stress-strain equation in the porous
Eqs.(1) and (2). If the incident sound wave is launched
medium are given by
in region x 0, then the expression of the pressure
field is given by

pi and pr denoting the incident and reflected waves,

respectively. In addition, in field p3 is produced in the For longitudinal waves, Eqs. (18) and Eqs.(19) become
region x > L, with pt is the transmitted field, is given by

Reflected and transmitted fields are given by the

convolution of incident field by reflection and trans-
mission operators:
These equations assumed that the pressure field and
the normal stress in the porous medium are continuous
at the boundary of the material at x = 0 and x = L, are
given by:

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
The Euler equation is written in region (x 0) and in
region (x L) are given by
The equation of flow continuity at x = 0 and x = L are
written as
where V1 , V3 are the acoustic velocity field in the
region (x 0) and (x L), respectively, Vs and Vf
are the solid and fluid acoustic fields, inside the
porous medium. With these condition of boundary,
the Eqs.(22), (23), (24), (25), (28), (29), we find the
expression of the coefficient reflection and transmis-
sion and are given by:
3 INVERSE PROBLEM
The propagation of acoustic waves in a slab of porous
material having an elastic frame in the high frequency
domain is characterized by many parameters, namely,
porosity , tortuosity , viscous characteristic length
, Youngs modulus of skeleton Eb , Poissons ratio of
skeleton b , the values of which are crucial for the
behavior of sound waves in such materials. The opera-
tor of transmission T (t) depends on the parameters to
determine. We calculates the theoretical temporal sig-
nal transmitted by convolution of T (t) with incidental
signal e(t): stheo (t) = T (t) e(t).
For each combination of parameters, We calculated
the function of minimization F defined by
where S is the experimental transmitted signal which
one makes the acquisition using an oscilloscope. The
good set of parameters is that which minimizes the
function F the program of minimization is carried out
under Matlab, it function with the function fmin-
search which uses the method of the simplex to
calculate the solution.

where, 4 ULTRASONIC MEASUREMENTS

F3 = (F1 ()cosh(L 1 ())f c0 + The experimental setup is shown in Fig. 2.

The experiments are performed in water using two
F2 ()cosh(L 2 ()) broadband Panametrics A303s piezoelectric transduc-
F 4 = F1 + F 2 ers with a central frequency 1 MHz in water, it is

made in a tank filled with water, the pair of trans-
2(1 + (1 () 1)) 1 ()
1
F1 =
ducers is used to emit and receive the ultrasonic

sinh(L 1 ()) signal delivered by a generator of impulse Panamet-

rics (HVpulser/receiver: 5052PR).The acquisition is
2(1 + (2 () 1)) 2 ()
2
F2 =
done using a numerical oscilloscope Lecroy 9310. we

sinh(L 2 ()) lay out then our sample in the tank, this sample is the
human bone, the part of the body to consider is the
The coefficients
1 (),
2 (),
() are given by

and the coefficients Z1 , Z2 , Z3 and Z4 are given by

Then we used the inverse Fourier transform of T ()

(Eq.(32)) to find T (t). Analytical calculus of the
transmission operator in the time domain is difficult
because the complexity of the transmission coefficient
expression in frequency domain (6). Figure 2. Experimental setup ultrasonic measurements.

48
Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
collar of the femur to cross in section transversal with viscous characteristic length (), Poisson coefficient
different thicknesses, one uses also a sample of an of skeleton (b ), Youngs Modulus of skeleton (Eb ).
bone substitute(from bovine cancellous bone) which After minimization we find the values of solution for
is the hydroxyapatite, the pore size is approximately the parameters: = 0.72, = 1.1,  = 14.97 m,
100 m. The transmitting transducer excite the sam- b = 0.22, Eb = 3.1 GPa.
ple at normal incidence with a short (in time domain) One traces the function of minimization(F) accord-
pulse. When the pulse the front surface of the sample, ing to the parameters sensitive to our field study and
part is reflected, part is transmitted as a fast wave and representation at 3 dimension is showing by Fig. 5
part is transmitted as a slow wave. The fluid (water)
characteristic are: bulk modulus Kf = 2.4 GPa, den-
sity f = 930 Kgm3 , viscosity = 103 Kgms1 . For 0.03

example, we have a sample (O1 ) of collar of femur,

0.025
a thickness of sample is L = 11.2 mm, the incident

Function of minimization
an transmitted experimental signal and there spec- 0.02
trum are show by Fig. 3 and 4 respectively. We obtain
the transmitted signal of the fast and slow waves. We 0.015
resolve the inverse problem to find the parameters,
whose can gain an insight into the sensitivity of each 0.01

physical parameter used in this theory, some param-

0.005
eters play an important role in slow and fast wave
form, the parameters are porosity (), tortuosity ( ), 0
1.02 1.04 1.06 1.08 1.1 1.12 1.14 1.16 1.18 1.2
Tortuosity

Figure 5. Function of minimization in function with

amplitude(V)

0
sample (O1 ).

-1
0.014
9 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8 10
time(s) -5
x 10 0.012
Function of minimization

0.01
amplitude(V)

0.2

0 0.008

-0.2 0.006

9 9.2 9.4 9.6 9.8 10 0.004

-5
time(s) x 10
0.002

Figure 3. Signal incident (solid line) and transmitted

0
(dashed line) with sample (O1 ). 2.5 3 3.5
Eb

Figure 6. Function of minimization in function Eb with

amplitude (dB)

sample (O1 ).
10-5

0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 -100.2

Function of minimization

Frequency (Hz) x 106

-100.3

-100.4
amplitude (dB)

-100.5

10-5 -100.6
3.2
3 1.2
2.8 1.15
2.6
0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 2.4 1.1
Frequency (HZ) x 106
Eb
2.2 1.05

Figure 4. Spectrum of incident (solid line) and transmitted Figure 7. Function of minimization in function ( , Eb )
(dashed line) signal with sample (O1 ). with sample (O1 ).

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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK
 0.2 0.1

0.1 0.05
Amplitude (V)

Amplitude (V)
0 0

-0.1 -0.05

-0.2 -0.1

-0.3 -0.15

90 92 94 96 98 100 102 45 50 55 60
Time (s)
Temps (s)

Figure 8. Comparison the coefficient of transmission Figure 11. Comparison the coefficient of transmis-
between theory and experimental with sample (O1 ). sion between theory and experimental with sample of
hydroxyapatite.
1.5
Amplitude(v)

1
0.5
Table 1. Parameters after minimization for different sample.
0
-0.5 L  Eb
(m)
-1
-1.5 (mm) b (GPa)
4.5 5 5.5 6
Time(s) x 10-5 O1 10.2 0.72 1.1 14.97 0.22 3.1
O2 12 0.79 1.052 10.12 0.26 2.47
O3 11.2 0.64 1.017 10.44 0.3 3.73
Amplitude(v)

0.1
Hy 12.5 0.90 1.13 8.07 0.31 2.16
0

-0.1

4.5 5 5.5 6 5 CONCLUSIONS

Time(s) x 10-5

In this paper we have used the Biot theory modified by

Figure 9. Signal incident (solid line) and transmitted Johnson et al. model to describe the viscous interaction
(dashed line) with sample of hydroxyapatite. between fluid and structure. And then, we solve the
inverse problem and return to the physical parameters
of medium from transmitted experimental data.
Function of minimization

-100.4 REFERENCES

[1] M. A. Biot, The theory of propagation of elastic waves in

-100.5
3
2.5
2 1.12
1.5 1.08
Eb
Figure 10. Function of minimization in function ( , Eb )
with sample of hydroxyapatite.
and 6 show them. Now, we compared the theoretical
expression in domain temporal of coefficient transmis-
sion with the experiment. This comparisons is given by
Fig. 7, we have a good correlation between the theory
and experimental. Another experiment with Hydrox-
yapatite(Hy) sample is showing by Fig. 9. The different
parameters have been measured on different sample of
bone, are given by Table 1.
fluid-saturated porous solid. II. Higher frequency range,
J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 28, 179191, (1956).
[2] J.L. Wilson, Ultrasonic wave propagation in cancellous
bone and cortical bone: prediction of some experimen-
1.14 1.16 tal results by Biots theory J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91,
1.1
11061112 (1992).
[3] W. Lauriks, J. Thoen, I. Van Asbroeck, G. Lowet
and G. Vanderperre, Propagation of ultrasonic pulses
through trabecular bone, J. Phys. Coll. (Paris) 4, 1255
1258 (1994).
[4] A. Hosokawa and T. Otani, Ultrasonic wave propaga-
tion in bovine cancellous bone, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 101,
558562 (1997).
[5] D.L. Johnson, J. Koplik and R. Dashen, Theory of
dynamic permeability and tortuosity in fluidsaturated
porous media, J. Fluid.Mech. 176, 379402 (1987).
[6] Z.E.A. Fellah, J.Y. Chapelon, S. Berger, W. Lauriks and
C. Depollier, Ultrasonic wave propagation nin human
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Copyright 2005 Taylor & Francis Group plc, London, UK