Acoustic energy radiated by nonlinear spherical oscillations of strongly driven bubbles

Abstract

Based on the theory of F. Gilmore ( Gilmore 1952 The growth or collapse of a spherical bubble in a viscous compressible liquid ) for radial oscillations of a bubble in a compressible medium, the sound emission of bubbles in water driven by high-amplitude ultrasound is calculated. The model is augmented to include expressions for a variable polytropic exponent, hardcore and water vapour. Radiated acoustic energies are calculated within a quasi-acoustic approximation and also a shock wave model. Isoenergy lines are shown for driving frequencies of 23.5 kHz and 1 MHz. Together with calculations of stability against surface wave oscillations leading to fragmentation, the physically relevant parameter space for the bubble radii is found. Its upper limit is around 6 μm for the lower frequency driving and 1–3 μm for the higher. The radiated acoustic energy of a single bubble driven in the kilohertz range is calculated to be of the order of 100 nJ per driving period; a bubble driven in the megahertz range reaches two orders of magnitude less. The results for the first have applications in sonoluminescence research. Megahertz frequencies are widely used in wafer cleaning, where radiated sound may be implicated as responsible for the damage of nanometre-sized structures.