As currently defined, the mechanical index (MI) uses only two parameters, peak rarefactional pressure and center frequency. The effect of another important factor, the pulse length (LP), was investigated by numerical computations for cavitation threshold (Pt) similar to the analytical work underlying the MI. The effect of LP on Pt is small for the original threshold criterion (maximum temperature, Tmax=5000 K), but can be substantial for the often-used criterion on maximum radius, Rmax=2Ro. The potential for bioeffects produced by purely mechanical means (Rmax) increases with LP, while those mediated by sonochemicals (Tmax) does not.

1.
R. E.
Apfel
and
C. K.
Holland
, “
Gauging the likelihood of cavitation from short-pulse, low-duty cycle diagnostic ultrasound
,”
Ultrasound Med. Biol.
17
,
179
185
(
1991
).
2.
J.
Šponer
, “
Dependence of the cavitation threshold on the ultrasonic frequency
,”
Czech. J. Phys.
40
,
1123
1132
(
1990
).
3.
J.
Šponer
, “
Theoretical estimation of the cavitation threshold for very short pulses of ultrasound
,”
Ultrasonics
29
,
376
380
(
1991
).
4.
H. G.
Flynn
, “
Cavitation dynamics. II. Free pulsations and models for cavitation bubbles
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
58
,
1160
1170
(
1975
).
5.
C. C.
Wu
and
P. H.
Roberts
, “
Shock-wave production in a sonoluminescing gas bubble
,”
Phys. Rev. Lett.
70
,
3424
3427
(
1993
).
6.
W. C.
Moss
,
D. B.
Clarke
,
J. W.
White
, and
D. A.
Young
, “
Hydrodynamic simulations of bubble collapse and picosecond sonoluminescence
,”
Phys. Fluids
6
,
2979
2985
(
1994
).
7.
C. C.
Church
, “
Prediction of rectified diffusion during nonlinear bubble pulsations at biomedical frequencies
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
83
,
2210
2217
(
1988
).
8.
H. G.
Flynn
and
C. C.
Church
, “
Transient pulsations of gas bubbles in water
,”
J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
84
,
985
998
(
1988
).
9.
H. G. Flynn, “Physics of acoustic cavitation in liquids,” in Physical Acoustics—Principles and Methods, edited by W. P. Mason (Academic, New York, 1964), Vol. IB, pp. 57–172.
This content is only available via PDF.