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An approximate analytical formulation is presented that allows for the calculation of acoustic pressure thresholds for transient cavitation over a variety of frequencies and host fluid parameters. Specifically, R.E. Apfel's (1986) theory is extended to include an estimate of the time delay associated with the Laplace pressure, 2sigma/R(0), where sigma is the surface tension and R(0) is the initial radius. Also presented is a correction factor for the time-averaged pressure difference, across the bubble wall during growth. An optimum size distribution of nuclei for the predisposition of a sample to microcavitation is exhibited. The role of transient cavitation in medical ultrasound is discussed.

Transient cavitation is a discrete phenomenon that relies on the existence of stabilized nuclei, or pockets of gas within a host fluid, for its genesis. A convenient descriptor for assessing the likelihood of transient cavitation is the threshold pressure, or the minimum acoustic pressure necessary to initiate bubble growth and subsequent collapse. An automated experimental apparatus has been developed to determine thresholds for cavitation produced in a fluid by short tone bursts of ultrasound at 0.76, 0.99, and 2.30 MHz. A fluid jet was used to convect potential cavitation nuclei through the focal region of the insonifying transducer. Potential nuclei tested include 1-microns polystyrene spheres, microbubbles in the 1- to 10-microns range that are stabilized with human serum albumin, and whole blood constituents. Cavitation was detected by a passive acoustical technique that is sensitive to sound scattered from cavitation bubbles. Measurements of the transient cavitation threshold in water, in a fluid of higher viscosity, and in diluted whole blood are presented. These experimental measurements of cavitation thresholds elucidate the importance of ultrasound, host fluid, and nuclei parameters in determining these thresholds. These results are interpreted in the context of an approximate analytical theory for the prediction of the onset of cavitation.

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The second-order force produced by a sound beam directed normally at a plane target is calculated. Previous theories on acoustic radiation pressures associated with plane acoustic waves are examined critically and erroneous results, where they exist, are noted and rectified. A number of general relations are established using a new approach which avoids the necessity of dealing with detailed solutions of the governing nonlinear equations. Some of the concepts inferred from known solutions obtained by previous authors require drastic revision in the light of the present study. Specifically, the notion that Rayleigh radiation pressure depends on the nonlinearity of the medium (while Langevin radiation pressure does not) is not true in the case where the medium is bound by a partially reflecting wall. Again, that the concept that Rayleigh radiation pressure depends on the acoustic field only through the energy density of the field is shown to be false. In one instance it is shown to depend also on how the field is maintained, while in another instance it does not appear to depend on the mean energy density of the field at all.

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The shape oscillations of drops in another fluid with or without surfactants has been analysed by normal mode expansions. The effects of surfactants are accommodated by considering the Gibbs elasticity, associated with the redistribution of surfactants, and a Boussinesq surface fluid with two surface viscosities. A general transcendental equation for the complex frequency of the free oscillations is derived. Explicit dispersion relations are given for fluids of small bulk viscosities and an interface of small, moderate, and large interfacial properties by a perturbation method. We have found that the oscillation always damps out faster for an interface exhibiting interfacial properties other than the interfacial tension, and the Gibbs elasticity is the most important parameter that alters the free-oscillation frequency and the damping constant. Moreover, the energy dissipation for an extensible interface can be much higher than that of an inextensible interface owing to the strong vorticity generated in the boundary layers.