Weakly nonlinear theory on ultrasound propagation in liquids containing many microbubbles encapsulated by visco-elastic shell

Abstract Aimed towards an application of ultrasound diagnosis using contrast agents, the dynamics of encapsulated bubbles has been theoretically investigated under the restriction of a single bubble. In this paper, we extend the theory for single bubble or some bubbles to that for many bubbles, and theoretically investigate weakly nonlinear propagation of ultrasound in an initially quiescent incompressible liquid, uniformly containing many microbubbles encapsulated by the shell as a viscoelastic body (Kelvin–Voigt model). As a result, we derived the Korteweg–de Vries–Burgers equation for a low-frequency long wave and clarified that the shell affects the advection, nonlinear, and dissipation (not dispersion) effects of ultrasound propagation. In particular, shell rigidity, surface tension, and shell viscosity increased the advection, nonlinear, and dissipation effects, respectively.