Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 2, 2025

Induction of Microstreaming by Nonspherical Bubble Oscillations in an Acoustic Levitation System
Published on: May 9, 2021
A unifying Rayleigh-Plesset-type equation for bubbles in viscoelastic media
Alexandros T Oratis1, Kay Dijs1, Guillaume Lajoinie1
1Physics of Fluids Group, Max Planck Center for Complex Fluid Dynamics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Technical Medical (TechMed) Center, University of Twente, Enschede, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Understanding the ultrasound pressure-driven dynamics of microbubbles confined in viscoelastic materials is relevant for multiple biomedical applications, ranging from contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging to ultrasound-assisted drug delivery. The volumetric oscillations of spherical bubbles are analyzed using the Rayleigh-Plesset equation, which describes the conservation of mass and momentum in the surrounding medium. Several studies have considered an extension of the Rayleigh-Plesset equation for bubbles embedded into viscoelastic media, but these are restricted to a particular choice of constitutive model and/or to small deformations. Here, we derive a unifying equation applicable to bubbles in viscoelastic media with arbitrary complex moduli and that can account for large bubble deformations. To derive this equation, we borrow concepts from finite-strain theory. We validate our approach by comparing the result of our model to previously published results and extend it to show how microbubbles behave in arbitrary viscoelastic materials. In particular, we use our viscoelastic Rayleigh-Plesset model to compute the bubble dynamics in benchmarked viscoelastic liquids and solids.
More Related Videos
10:28Experimental Measurement of Settling Velocity of Spherical Particles in Unconfined and Confined Surfactant-based Shear Thinning Viscoelastic Fluids
Published on: January 3, 2014
11:14A Microfluidic System with Surface Patterning for Investigating Cavitation Bubble(s)–Cell Interaction and the Resultant Bioeffects at the Single-cell Level
Published on: January 10, 2017
Related Concept Videos
Excess Pressure Inside a Drop and a Bubble
Euler's Equations of Motion
Navier–Stokes Equations
Deriving the Speed of Sound in a Liquid
The speed of sound in fluids can be derived by considering a mechanical wave...
Steady, Laminar Flow in Circular Tubes
Stokes' Law
The expression for the force on a solid spherical object in a fluid is called Stokes' law. Stokes' law is valid only...