Numerical study on a shelled gas bubble submerged in soft tissue

Abstract

Ultrasound contrast agents have been recently utilized in therapeutical implementations for targeted delivery of pharmaceutical substances. Radial pulsations of the encapsulated microbubbles under the action of an ultrasound field are complex and high nonlinear, particularly for drug and gene delivery applications with high acoustic pressure amplitudes. The dynamics of a polymer-shelled agent is inspected \textit{in vivo} through applying the method of chaos physics whereas the effects of the outer medium compressibility and the shell were considered. The stability of the ultrasound contrast agent is examined by plotting the bifurcation diagrams over a wide range of variations of influential parameters. The results imply that the composition of the surrounding medium alters the microbubble dynamics, strongly. Furthermore, influences of various parameters which present a comprehensive view of the radial oscillations of the microbubble are quantitatively discussed with clear descriptions of the stable and unstable regions of the microbubble oscillations.