Numerical simulation and experimental validation of biofilm formation

A state-of-the-art 3D computational model based on a continuum approach is developed to investigate biofilm in a multi-physics framework using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). Biofilms are in fact aggregation of microorganisms such as bacteria. Biofilm formation is a complex provess in the sense that several physical phenomena are involved. On one hand, biofilm growth is driven by biological reaction and nutrient diffusion and on the other hand, it is influenced by the fluid flow causing biofilm deformation and interface erosion in the context of fluid and deformable solid interaction (FSI). The geometrical complexity arising from moving and varying boundaries poses serious complications and challenges in grid-based techniques such as finite element (FE). Here the solution is based on SPH as one of the powerful meshless and Lagrangian methods.