Intercoupling of bulk acoustic streaming and acoustothermal effect: A high-frequency focused beam example

Abstract

High-frequency focused acoustic beams are promising for selective trapping of cells in fluids, but the related acoustic absorption may generate large acoustothermal effect which could cause thermal heating on cells or microparticles and bring extra acoustic body force due to the thermal gradient. The theory of the bulk acoustic streaming and acoustic radiation force in a focused-beam for the three-dimensional selective trapping of a cell has been developed [Li and Gong, Phys. Rev. Fluids, 11, 054201 (2026)], however, the acoustothermal effect and its feedback on the acoustic field at high frequency with strong absorption remain weakly understood. To solve this issue, we develop a theoretical and numerical model that couples acoustic propagation, bulk acoustic streaming, and acoustothermal effect in water. The acoustic body force is decomposed into a viscous-attenuation-induced acoustic body force $\mathbf{f}_{\mathrm{E}}$ and a temperature-gradient-induced acoustic body force $\mathbf{f}_{\mathrm{T}}$, while the temperature field is fed back to the frequency-domain acoustic calculation through the temperature-dependent material properties. Taking the single focused beam for example, within the pressure range constrained by the mechanical index, $\mathbf{f}_{\mathrm{T}}$ remains weaker than $\mathbf{f}_{\mathrm{E}}$, whereas streaming-induced convection can markedly reduce the temperature rise when the thermal Peclet number ($Pe_T$) exceeds unity. This work establishes a theoretical basis for predicting and controlling the intercoupling of bulk acoustic streaming and acoustothermal effec of high-frequency focused beams which will be helpful for the design of single-beam acoustical tweezers.