Bacterial accumulation behind an obstacle

GASTON MIÑO; RICARDO CHERTCOFF; GABRIEL GUTKIND; ERIC CLÉMENT; HAROLD AURADOU; IRENE IPPOLITO

Cincinnati

Simposio; InterPore 8th International Conference on Porous Media & Annual Meeting; 2016

Flow surrounding an obstacle constitutes one of the classical problems on hydrodynamic, and it represents a basic model to understand complex systems as the case of porous media. In this work, we generate a potential flow around a cylinder in a Hele-Shaw-like system (i.e. small distance between the upper and lower wall) by the use of microfluidics. Under these conditions, we report experimental evidence of accumulation of motile emph{Escericha coli} behind an obstacle. We show that such accumulation - not observed with dead bacteria - depends on the imposed flow velocity. The flow simulation in this type of system suggests that areas with low flow velocity and low shear rates favorite the accumulation of bacteria. We also extended this work studying the effect of an obstacle?s row lined up in the center of the channel.