A level-set method for ultrasound-driven bubble motion and tissue deformation

Abstract

Ultrasound-driven bubble collapse and resulting tissue deformation are numerically investigated by combining a level-set method for determining the liquid–gas and liquid–solid interfaces and a full Eulerian method to solve the unified governing equations for both solid and fluid phases. The fluid compressibility effect is considered by employing the van der waals and Tait equations of state for gas and liquid, respectively, and a semi-implicit pressure correction method is used to effectively capture ultrasound and shock waves. Two tissue models, treating tissue as a viscoelastic solid or as a fluid with large surface tension, are compared in terms of the bubble expansion and compression processes and tissue deformation patterns. Computations are also carried out to investigate the influences of ultrasonic pulse amplitude, ultrasound frequency, and bubble-tissue distance on the bubble-tissue interaction.