Simulating propagation of acoustic waves via solving a system of three-coupled first-order linear differential equations using a k-space pseudo-spectral method is popular for biomedical applications, firstly because of availability of an open-source toolbox for implementation of this numerical approach, and secondly because of its efficiency. The k-space pseudo-spectral method is efficient, because it allows coarser computational grids and larger time steps than finite difference and finite element methods for the same accuracy. The goal of this study is to compare this numerical wave solver with an analytical solution to the wave equation using the Green's function for computing propagation of acoustic waves in homogeneous media. This comparison is done in the frequency domain. Using the k-Wave solver, a match to the Green's function is obtained after modifying the approach taken for including mass source in the linearised equation of continuity (conservation of mass) in the associated system of wave equations.

翻译：通过k空间伪谱法求解三耦合一阶线性微分方程组来模拟声波传播，在生物医学应用中广受欢迎，其原因既在于该数值方法可通过开源工具箱实现，也在于其高效性。k空间伪谱法之所以高效，是因为在相同精度下，它允许采用比有限差分法和有限元法更粗的计算网格和更大的时间步长。本研究旨在将这种数值声波求解器与基于格林函数的波动方程解析解进行对比，以计算均匀介质中的声波传播。该比较在频域中完成。通过k-Wave求解器，在修改相关波动方程组中线性化连续性方程（质量守恒）中质量源项的包含方式后，实现了与格林函数的匹配。