A substantial body of research has been conducted on heat transfer models to predict temperature distribution in biological tissues. However, in heterogeneous media such as liver tissue, non-Fourier heat transfer models can provide more accurate predictions due to the presence of thermal phase lag effects. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the temperature distribution in liver tissue subjected to nonlinear high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) irradiation in the presence of large blood vessels. To achieve this, both the classical Fourier model and non-Fourier models, including the two-phase lag (DPL) and thermal wave models (TWMBT), are employed and compared. The acoustic pressure field is first determined using the KZK equation. Subsequently, the coupled fluid flow and heat transfer equations are solved to evaluate the thermal response of the tissue. The nonlinear Navier–Stokes equations are utilized to simulate blood flow, taking into account the effects of acoustic streaming. The results demonstrate that convective cooling and acoustic streaming in large blood vessels significantly reduce the temperature rise and thermal lesion formation in the surrounding tissue. Furthermore, non-Fourier models predict lower temperature values compared to the Fourier model, showing better agreement with available experimental data. It is also observed that acoustic streaming enhances blood velocity, which intensifies the cooling effect and consequently reduces tissue temperature.
Roknabadi et al. (Fri,) studied this question.