Performance Assessment of Row–Column Transverse Oscillation Tensor Velocity Imaging Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Carotid Bifurcation Flow

In this work, the accuracy of row–column tensor velocity imaging (TVI), i.e., 3-D vector flow imaging (VFI) in 3-D space over time, is quantified on a complex, clinically relevant flow. The quantification is achieved by transferring the flow simulated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to a Field II simulation environment, and this allows for a direct comparison between the actual and estimated velocities. The carotid bifurcation flow simulations were performed with a peak inlet velocity of 80 cm/s, nonrigid vessel walls, and a flow cycle duration of 1.2 s. The flow was simulated from two observation angles, and it was acquired using a 3-MHz 62+62 row–column addressed array (RCA) at a pulse repetition frequency (
${f}_{prf}$
) of 10 and 20 kHz. The tensor velocities were obtained at a frame rate of 208.3 Hz, at
${f}_{prf} = {10} ~\mathrm{kHz}$
, and the results from two velocity estimators were compared. The two estimators were the directional transverse oscillation (TO) cross correlation estimator and the proposed autocorrelation estimator. Linear regression between the actual and estimated velocity components yielded, for the cross correlation estimator, an
${R}$
²
value in the range of 0.89–0.91, 0.46–0.77, and 0.91–0.97 for the
${x}$
-,
${y}$
-, and
${z}$
-components, and 0.87–0.89, 0.40–0.83, and 0.91–0.96 when using the autocorrelation estimator. The results demonstrate that an RCA can, with just 62 receive channels, measure complex 3-D flow fields at a high volume rate.