Acoustic streaming in an ultrasonic air pump with three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain analysis and comparison to the measurement

The direct finite-difference fluid simulation of acoustic streaming on a fine-meshed three-dimensional model using a graphics processing unit (GPU)-based calculation array is discussed. Airflows are induced by an acoustic traveling wave when an intense sound field is generated in a gap between a bending transducer and a reflector. The calculation results showed good agreement with measurements in a pressure distribution. Several flow vortices were observed near the boundary layer of the reflector and the transducer, which have often been observed near the boundary of acoustic tubes, but have not been observed in previous calculations for this type of ultrasonic air pump.