A model for large amplitude oscillations of coated bubbles accounting for buckling and rupture

TLDR

The authors develop a model for ultrasound contrast agent bubbles that incorporates lipid monolayer properties and predicts the effects of aging and repeated acoustic pulses. The model is based on three shell parameters—buckling radius, compressibility, and critical break‑up tension—and is validated by high‑speed camera recordings, with break‑up occurring when tension exceeds the critical value. The model predicts a novel compression‑only nonlinear oscillation due to lipid buckling, which is experimentally confirmed and corrects a previous flaw in the shell elasticity term.

Abstract

We present a model applicable to ultrasound contrast agent bubbles that takes into account the physical properties of a lipid monolayer coating on a gas microbubble. Three parameters describe the properties of the shell: a buckling radius, the compressibility of the shell, and a break-up shell tension. The model presents an original non-linear behavior at large amplitude oscillations, termed compression-only, induced by the buckling of the lipid monolayer. This prediction is validated by experimental recordings with the high-speed camera Brandaris 128, operated at several millions of frames per second. The effect of aging, or the resultant of repeated acoustic pressure pulses on bubbles, is predicted by the model. It corrects a flaw in the shell elasticity term previously used in the dynamical equation for coated bubbles. The break-up is modeled by a critical shell tension above which gas is directly exposed to water.