Continuous motion of particles attached to cavitation bubbles

Microbubble-mediated therapeutic gene or drug delivery is a promising strategy for various cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), but the efficiency and precision need to be improved. Here, we propose a cavitation bubble-driven drug delivery strategy that can be applied to CVDs. A bubble-pulse-driving theory was proposed, and the formula of time-averaged thrust driven by bubble pulses was derived. The continuous motion of particles propelled by cavitation bubbles in the ultrasonic field is investigated experimentally by high-speed photography. The cavitation bubbles grow and collapse continuously, and generate periodic pulse thrust to drive the particles to move in the liquid. Particles attached to bubbles will move in various ways, such as ejection, collision, translation, rotation, attitude variation, and circular motion. The cavity attached to the particle is a relatively large cavitation bubble, which does not collapse to the particle surface, but to the axis of the bubble perpendicular to the particle surface. The cavitation bubble expands spherically and collapses asymmetrically, which makes the push on the particle generated by the bubble expansion greater than the pull on the particle generated by the bubble collapse. The time-averaged force of the cavitation bubble during its growth and collapse is the cavitation-bubble-driven force that propels the particle. Both the cavitation-bubble-driven force and the primary Bjerknes force act in the same position on the particle surface, but in different directions. In addition to the above two forces, particles are also affected by the mass force acting on the center of mass and the motion resistance acting on the surface, so the complex motion of particles can be explained.

Investigation on the cavitation bubble collapse and the movement characteristics near spherical particles based on Weiss theorem

In this paper, the cavitation bubble dynamics near two spherical particles of the same size are investigated theoretically and experimentally. According to the Weiss theorem, the flow characteristics and the Kelvin impulse are obtained and supported by the sufficient experimental data. In terms of the initial bubble position, the bubble size and the distance between the two particles, the collapse morphology and the movement characteristics of the bubble are revealed in detail. The main findings include: (1) Based on a large number of experimental results, it is found that the Kelvin impulse theoretical model established in this paper can effectively predict the movement characteristics of the cavitation bubble near two particles of the same size. (2) When the initial bubble position is gradually away from the particles along the horizontal symmetry axis near two particles of the same size, the movement distance of the bubble centroid in the first period increases first and then decreases. (3) When the initial position of the bubble centroid is at the asymmetric position near the two particles, the movement direction of the bubble centroid is biased towards the particle closer to the bubble, but not towards the center of this particle.

Theoretical investigation and experimental support for the cavitation bubble dynamics near a spherical particle based on Weiss theorem and Kelvin impulse

In the present paper, the laser-induced cavitation bubble dynamics near a fixed spherical particle is comprehensively investigated based on the Weiss theorem, the Kelvin impulse theory and the high-speed photography experiment. Firstly, the applicability range of the theoretical model in the time and the space is statistically obtained based on sufficient experimental results. Then, the in-depth theoretical analysis is carried out in terms of the liquid flow field and the bubble Kelvin impulse with the corresponding experimental results as the reasonable support. In addition, the theoretical prediction model of the bubble movement is established and experimentally fitted from the analytic expression of the Kelvin impulse. Through our research, it is found that: (1) the applicability range of the Kelvin impulse theory for the bubble near the spherical particle is approximately the dimensionless distance between the bubble and particle (γ) greater than 0.50. (2) The effect of the particle on the liquid velocity between the bubble and the particle is mainly manifested in the form of the image bubble, which always causes the liquid velocity in this region to be significantly lower than other surrounding regions. (3) The average movement velocity of the bubble centroid can be reasonably predicted by establishing a directly proportional function between the Kelvin impulse and the velocity with the relationship constant (α) equal to 3.57×10^-6 ± 1.63×10^-7 kg.

Bat selfies: photographic surveys of flying bats

The recent pandemic and other environmental concerns have resulted in restrictions on research and surveys involving capture and handling bats. While acoustic surveys have been widely used as an alternative survey method, in this study, we show how photographic surveys can offer an important contribution to study and survey bats. We outline approaches, using high speed flash and automated trip beams to obtain photos of flying bats of sufficient quality for reliable identification of species. We show, through a series of examples of setups and photographs, that photography is effective for surveying bats at a variety of sites, where bats roost, drink, and forage. We note, however, that photographic surveys cannot replace capture in all situations. In addition, although photographing bats is less invasive than capturing them, it can involve disturbance, so we stress the importance of minimizing the impact of such operations on bats.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42991-022-00233-7.

Circular motion of submillimeter-sized acoustic bubbles attached to a boundary by high-speed image analysis

The circular motion of submillimeter-sized bubbles attached to a boundary in an 18.5 kHz ultrasonic field are investigated experimentally by high-speed photography and image analysis. It is found that the vibration of gas bubbles with diameters of 0.2-0.4 mm is between spherical radial vibration and regular surface fluctuation. Different from the circular motion of suspended bubbles in water, the circular motion of gas bubbles attached to a boundary presents some new characteristics. These bubbles attached to a boundary (wandering bubbles) will rotate around a fixed bubble array (holding bubbles). Both the wondering bubbles and holding bubbles are "degas" bubbles. The primary Bjerknes force acting on wandering bubbles in the acoustic wave field and the secondary Bjerknes force between the wandering bubbles and the holding bubbles strongly affects the circular motion. The circling and residence behavior of gas bubbles is described and analyzed in detail, which is helpful to understand and improve industrial applications such as ultrasonic cleaning, sonochemical treatment, aeration and cavitation reduction.

Mechanism and dynamics of hydrodynamic-acoustic cavitation (HAC)

Bubble clusters in hydrodynamic cavitation, acoustic cavitation and hydrodynamic-acoustic cavitation (HAC) are investigated via high-speed photography. By introducing a cavitation state variable, a method for cavitation characterization is proposed. The periodic characteristics and intensity distributions of hydrodynamic cavitation, acoustic cavitation and HAC are quantitatively analyzed using this method. It is found that the range of HAC is evidently widened and the strength of HAC is significantly enhanced compared with hydrodynamic cavitation or acoustic cavitation. Furthermore, we developed a preliminary physical model describing the dynamics of a cavitation bubble in HAC and proposed a mechanism to explain the enhancement of the intensity in HAC.

Using Small-scale Blast Tests and Numerical Modelling to Trace the Origin of Fines Generated in Blasting

Waste fines from rock breakage often negatively influence economics and environment. The Austrian Science Fund (FWF) sponsors a project to investigate the cause of the fines by studying blast fragmentation throughout small-scale blast tests and numerical simulations. The tests include blast-loading confined granite and mortar cylinders by detonating cord with 6, 12, and 20 g/m of PETN. The blast-driven dynamic cracking at the end face of the cylinder opposite to the initiation point is filmed with a high-speed camera. The filming is followed up by an analysis of surface and internal crack systems and sieving of the blasted cylinders to quantify the amount of fine material created. The numerical simulations cover the blast fragmentation of a mortar cylinder. These simulations use Finite and Discrete Element Methods (FEM, DEM) with explicit time integration. The model cylinders are loaded by a pressure evolution acting on the borehole wall. Both methods produce realistic crack patterns, consisting of through-going radial cracks with crack intersections around a crushed zone at the borehole. Furthermore, the DEM models have also yielded realistic fragment size distributions (FSD). The paper covers the present progress of the ongoing project and related future work.

High-speed photographic observation of the sonication of a rabbit carotid artery filled with microbubbles by 20-kHz low frequency ultrasound

The aim of this study is to assess the physical damage of cavitation effects induced by low frequency ultrasound and microbubbles (MBs) to an in vitro vessel. A rabbit carotid artery filled with SonoVue MBs and methylene blue was irradiated with 20-kHz ultrasound, and the results were recorded by high-speed photography at 3000 frames per second. The carotid artery filled with MBs experienced a slight tremor during ultrasonication. Six intermittent blue flow events occurred in two places on the artery wall during the 5-s process. The duration of each leakage event was 90-360ms with an average of 200ms. Hematoxylin-eosin (H-E) staining demonstrated the separation of the carotid artery elastic membrane, local blood vessel wall defects and hole formation, and the surface of the ruptured area was rough and irregular. Another carotid artery was filled with a 0.9% NaCl solution and methylene blue as a control and irradiated with 20-kHz ultrasound. No blue liquid flow was seen, and no holes in the vessel were observed. H-E staining revealed intact vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscles with no vascular wall defects. Low-frequency ultrasound combined with MBs can cause a vessel to rupture and holes to form in a short time. High-speed photography is useful for observing transient changes caused by the effects of ultrasound cavitation on an in vitro vessel.

Acoustic power dependences of sonoluminescence and bubble dynamics

The decreasing effect of sonoluminescence (SL) in water at high acoustic powers was investigated in relation to bubble dynamics and acoustic emission spectra. The intensity of SL was measured in the power range of 1-18W at 83.8kHz for open-end (free liquid surface and film-covered surface) and fixed-end boundaries of sound fields. The power dependence of the SL intensity showed a maximum and then decrease to zero for all the boundaries. Similar results were obtained for sonochemiluminescence in luminol solution. The power dependence of the SL intensity was strongly correlated with the bubble dynamics captured by high-speed photography at 64kfps. In the low-power range where the SL intensity increases, bubble streamers were observed and the population of streaming bubbles increased with the power. At powers after SL maximum occurred, bubble clusters came into existence. Upon complete SL reduction, only bubble clusters were observed. The subharmonic in the acoustic emission spectra increased markedly in the region where bubble clusters were observed. Nonspherical oscillations of clustering bubbles may make a major contribution to the subharmonic.