Effect of gravity on the pattern formation in aqueous suspensions of luminous \textit{Escherichia coli} (Q7014030)

The dynamics of a population of cells with density \(n\), suspended in a fluid flow with velocity \(\mathbf{u}=(u_x,u_y)\) having their motion biased by gradients of a chemoattractant with concentration \(c\) and using oxygen with concentration \(o\) as nutrient, is modelled by the following Keller-Segel-Navier-Stokes equations\N\begin{align*}\N\partial_t n + \mathbf{u}\cdot \nabla n & = \mathrm{div}\big(D_n \nabla n - k_1 n \nabla c \big) + k_2 n \left( 1 - \frac{n}{k_3 o} \right), \\\N\partial_t c + \mathbf{u}\cdot \nabla c & = D_c \Delta c + \frac{k_4 n}{k_5+n} r(o) - k_6 c, \\\N\partial_t o + \mathbf{u}\cdot\nabla o & = D_o \Delta o - k_7 n, \\\N\rho \big( \partial_t \mathbf{u} + (\mathbf{u}\cdot\nabla).\mathbf{u} \big) & = \nu \Delta\mathbf{u} - \nabla p - n V_b g (\rho_b-\rho) \mathbf{(0,1)}, \\\N\mathrm{div}\,\mathbf{u} = 0,\N\end{align*}\Nin a two-dimensional cylinder \((0,l)\times (0,h)\), supplemented with initial conditions \((n_0,c_0,o_0,\mathbf{u}_0)\). The boundary conditions are periodic in the horizontal direction and are given by\N\begin{align*}\N\partial_y n = \partial_y c = \partial_y u_x = 0, \quad (u_y,o)=(0,\bar{o}_0) \text{ on } (0,T)\times (0,l)\times\{h\}, \\\N\partial_y n = \partial_y c = \partial_y o = 0, \quad \mathbf{u} = \mathbf{0} \text{ on } (0,T)\times (0,l)\times\{0\}.\N\end{align*}\Nin the vertical direction. Here, the cut-off function \(r\) models a threshold of partial inactivity of the bacteria due to high oxygen supply (typically exceeding a threshold value \(o_{\mathrm{max}}\)). Numerical simulations are performed to study the influence of the gravity term \(- n V_b g (\rho_b-\rho) \mathbf{(0,1)}\) and the oxygen cut-off \(r(o)\), after a suitable rescaling and introducing the vorticity.