2020/09/30 by Miru Lee, Christoph Lohrmann, Kai Szuttor +2
Chemistry · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Bacteria #Biological system #Biology #Biophysics #Cell biology #Channel (broadcasting) #Chemical physics #Chemistry #Composite material #Computer science #Flow (mathematics) #Lattice Boltzmann Simulation Studies #Lattice Boltzmann methods #Materials science #Mechanics #Micro and Nano Robotics #Microporous material #Motility #Nanopore and Nanochannel Transport Studies #Obstacle #Physics #Porosity #Porous medium #cond-mat.soft #cond-mat.stat-mech #physics.bio-ph #physics.flu-dyn
paper · pdf · doi:10.1039/d0sm01595d
published as Soft Matter, 2020, Advance Article · 10 pages, 9 figures, 3 videos, 1 supplementary information
openalex publication_date 2020/11/20 · arxiv created 2020/11/26 · arxiv updated 2020/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
We study the transport of bacteria in a porous media modeled by a square channel containing one cylindrical obstacle via molecular dynamics simulations coupled to a lattice Boltzmann fluid. Our bacteria model is a rod-shaped rigid body which is propelled by a force-free mechanism. To account for the behavior of living bacteria, the model also incorporates a run-and-tumble process. The model bacteria are capable of hydrodynamically interacting with both of the channel walls and the obstacle. This enables the bacteria to get reoriented when experiencing a shear-flow. We demonstrate that this model is capable of reproducing the bacterial accumulation on the rear side of an obstacle, as has recently been experimentally observed by [G. L. Miño, et al., Adv. Microbiol., 2018, 8, 451] using E. coli bacteria. By systematically varying the external flow strength and the motility of the bacteria, we resolve the interplay between the local flow strength and the swimming characteristics that lead to the accumulation. Moreover, by changing the geometry of the channel, we also reveal the important role of the interactions between the bacteria and the confining walls for the accumulation process.