Positive pressure matters in acoustic droplet vaporization
Fluid Dynamics
2025-07-02 v1
Abstract
Acoustically vaporizable droplets are phase-change agents that can improve the effectiveness of ultrasound-based therapies. In this study, we demonstrate that the compression part of an acoustic wave can generate tension that initiates the vaporization. This counter-intuitive process is explained by the occurrence of Gouy phase shift due to the focusing of the acoustic wave inside the droplet. Our analysis unifies the existing theories for acoustic droplet vaporization under a single framework and is supported by experiments and simulations. We use our theory to identify governing parameters that allow to vaporize droplets using predominantly compression waves, which are safer in medical use.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2407.16455,
title = {Positive pressure matters in acoustic droplet vaporization},
author = {Samuele Fiorini and Anunay Prasanna and Gazendra Shakya and Marco Cattaneo and Outi Supponen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.16455},
year = {2025}
}