2) Heat transfer model and experimental validation
Temperature rise due to sonication was simulated using a finite element
heat transfer model (see methods) for four sets of pulse length, total
power, and vessel size conditions: (1) 10 s, 5.5 W, 1.5 mL, (2) 20 s,
5.5 W, 1.5 mL, (3) 10 s, 12.5 W, 5 mL, (4) 10 s, 1.73W, 1.5 ml tubes.
These were then experimentally validated under the same conditions using
a thermocouple probe (Fig 3, supplementary figure 9). It is observed
that the simulated temperature profile matches well with the experiment
(R2 = 0.9947, 0.9989, 0.9926 and 0.9849). This
indicates that the model assumptions made (namely complete mixing in the
tube) are adequate and that the model can be used to assess published
data and to calculate optimized conditions.