How complex viscoelastic behaviors within a viscoelastic three-layer structure affect the measurement accuracy of ultrasound viscoelastic creep imaging

The purpose of this study is to use finite element computational simulation to investigate the accuracy of ultrasound viscoelastic creep imaging for evaluating the viscoelastic properties of a heterogeneous viscoelastic three-layer structure. The findings suggest that, in general, viscoelastic creep imaging cannot accurately evaluate the viscoelastic properties of each layer of the viscoelastic three-layer structure. Inaccuracy in the evaluation is due to deviation or distortion of the creep curve of each element within the viscoelastic three-layer structure, resulting from the interaction between complicated viscoelastic behaviors of each layer within the viscoelastic three-layer structure.