An Acoustomechanical Constitutive Model of Gel Considering Cavitation Effect in Exposure to Ultrasound

Abstract

In this paper, an acoustomechanical constitutive model is developed to describe the heating effect of a tissue-mimicking gel by cavitation in exposure to high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). An internal variable, representing the evolution of cavitation process, is introduced into the Helmholtz free energy under the framework of thermodynamics that combines the acoustic radiation stress theory and the nonlinear elasticity theory together. Thus, the internal variable is related to the cavitation process and the mechanical energy dissipation of a tissue-mimicking gel from a macroscopic viewpoint. Since the temperature rise of cavitation phenomenon is more remarkable than that of heating waves, the temperature inside the tissue-mimicking gel rises rapidly mainly due to large amounts of cavitation bubbles. This phenomenon can be quantitatively described by the present model, which fits the existing experimental data well.