
Water Science and Technology Vol 39 No 7 pp 107114 © IWA Publishing 1999
Two-dimensional simulations of biofilm development: effects of external environmental conditions
Slawomir W. Hermanowicz
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California Berkeley, CA 94720-1710 USA
ABSTRACT
A new approach to biofilm modeling based on cellular automata was described. Simple, local rules governing cell growth and erosion generated self-organized biofilm structures. In numerical experiments, the morphologies of simulated biofilms depended primarily on the thickness of the concentration boundary layer that controlled the external mass transfer. The bulk nutrient concentration had a weaker influence. For thin boundary layers, compact, dense base biofilms were generated. Thick boundary layers produced ramified, dendritic structures with higher porosities. For the same value of a critical bulk nutrient concentration, biofilm structures, generated in individual simulations, varied randomly between two very different outcomes: a dense, thick layer or almost complete erosion.
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