As stated in the previous slide, we can improve upon the assumption of bubble sphericity which is inherent in the Gilmore-Akulichev model. This is necessary, because as this page will show, even when it is far from a solid object like a kidney stone, a lithotripter shock wave can cause a bubble to collapse in a non-spherical manner. Indeed the jets produced by such collapses can be very effective in breaking up kidney stones and other nearby solids, which intensify the tendency of the bubble to lose sphericity when exposed to a lithotripsy shock pulse.
 
 Click here to show the results of a CFD simulation. On the right you can see how the geometry of the simulation is going to be laid out. The pressure field is shown in the half-space above the axis of rotational symmetry in which an initially spherical gas bubble in a compressible liquid is subjected to a lithotripter shock wave.

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© T G Leighton 2003