Modeling biofilm growth for porous medium applications (Q5931777)

As biofilms intervene in a porous medium, they affect the porosity and permeability, which in turn alters the hydrodynamics. Existing biofilm models do not sufficiently account for the effect of small pore structure of porous media on the biofilm growth. The authors present a new biofilm growth model which is suitable for microscale simulations of bioflim activity in a porous medium. The simulations illustrate the possibility of incorporating this biofilm model into a porous medium hydrodynamic model.