Bacterial migration and motion in a fluid phase and near a solid surface
An understanding of the migration and motion of bacteria in a fluid phase and near solid surfaces is necessary to characterize processes such as the bioremediation of hazardous waste, the pathogenesis of infection, industrial biofouling and wastewater treatment, among others. This study addresses three questions concerning the prediction of the distribution of a population of bacteria in a fluid phase and the motion of bacteria near a solid surface: Under what conditions does a one-dimensional phenomenological model for the density of a population of chemotactic bacteria yield an adequate representation of the migration of bacteria subject to a one-dimensional attractant gradient? How are the values of transport coefficients obtained from experimental data affected by the use of the one-dimensional phenomenological model and also by the use of different descriptions of bacterial swimming behavior in a mathematically rigorous balance equation? How is the characteristic motion of bacteria swimming in a fluid affected by the presence of a solid phase? A computer simulation that rigorously models the movement of a large population of individual chemotactic bacteria in three dimensions is developed to test the validity of a one-dimensional phenomenological model for bacterial migration in a fluid.
- Research Organization:
- Virginia Univ., Charlottesville, VA (United States). School of Engineering and Applied Science
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management, Washington, DC (United States); Oak Ridge Inst. for Science and Education, TN (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-76OR00033
- OSTI ID:
- 573237
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/OR/00033-T764; ON: DE97053796; TRN: AHC29807%%63
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: TH: Thesis (Ph.D.); PBD: Jan 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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