Buckling resistance of solid shell bubbles under ultrasound

Thin solid shell contrast agents bubbles are expected to undergo different volume oscillating behaviors when the acoustic power is increased: small oscillations when the shell remains spherical, and large oscillations when the shell buckles. Contrary to bubbles covered with thin lipidic monolayers that buckle as soon as compressed: the solid shell bubbles resist compression, making the buckling transition abrupt. Numerical simulations that explicitly incorporate a shell bending modulus give the critical buckling pressure and post-buckling shape, and show the appearance of a finite number of wrinkles. These findings are incorporated in a model based on the concept of effective surface tension. This model compares favorably to experiments when adjusting two main parameters: the buckling tension and the rupture shell tension. The buckling tension provides a direct estimation of the acoustic pressure threshold at which buckling occurs. (C) 2011 Acoustical Society of America. [DOI: 10.1121/1.3543943]