Electronic Journal Technical Acoustics ISSN 1819-2408

Riccardo Leonardi, Elisabetta Ronchieri

Scattering of a distribution of encapsulated gas bubbles, a computer model

language: English

received 17.05.2005, published 08.08.2005

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ABSTRACT

The interest in using suspensions of polymeric encapsulated microbubbles as contrast agents in medical ultrasound imaging has increased during the last few years. Most of the knowledge on the non-linear mechanical and acoustical behaviour of encapsulated microbubbles is the result of empirical measurements, while the theoretical study of these phenomena, in particular the echo of a bubble distribution, is still an open research area. This paper presents a computer simulation program that calculates the global echo of a bubble distribution according to a modified Rayleigh-Plesset model for each bubble and by summing the contribution of each bubble to highlight the higher harmonics. Thanks to this approach, the study of the effects of the parameters of both the bubble and transmitted acoustic impulse on the higher harmonics contained in the echo is simplified. The results of this study are fundamental to the design of the microbubble or the echographic system.

16 pages, 9 figures

Сitation: Riccardo Leonardi, Elisabetta Ronchieri. Scattering of a distribution of encapsulated gas bubbles, a computer model. Electronic Journal “Technical Acoustics”, http://www.ejta.org, 2005, 23.

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		Riccardo Leonardi is working for an information technology company in Pisa, Italy, developing software for finance. Prior to that, he received a MSc degree in electronic engineering with major specialization in biomedic from University of Pisa, Italy in 1998. From 1999 to 2001 he worked in Alenia, Italy, for which he contributed to both studying, modeling and simulating underwater acoustic phenomena and electroacoustic transducers. From 2003, he starts focusing on echography and ultrasound contrast agents modeling and simulating, joining to the team of BubbleDistributionEcho simulator developers. His research interests also include biomedic and environmetal acoustic, neural networks and genetic algorithms.
		Elisabetta Ronchieri is member of the Europen EGEE project, Joint Research Activity 1, as part of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN, Italy) partnership. Prior to that, she received a MSc degree in computer science engineering with major specialization in automation from University of Pisa, Italy in 1999. From 1999 to 2000, she specialized in developing graphical 3D for nautical map. From 2000 to 2001, she specialized in studying, modeling and simulating UAV, and underwater acoustic phenomena in Alenia, Italy. Since 2001, she has worked for the INFN, where she has been involved in the management of large software systems and in advance reservation functionality of Grid systems. Since 2003, she also has been research modeling and simulation of echography and ultrasound contrast agents, joining to the team of BubbleDistributionEcho simulator developers. Since 2004, she holds a PHD position in automation, robotic and bio-engineering at University of Pisa. Her research interests include advance reservation in Grids, the engineering of bio-mimicnapplied to autonomous vehichles and ultrasound contrast agents. e-mail: elisabetta.ronchieri(at)cnaf.infn.it