Bacterial detachment from a wall with a bump line.

Abstract

The interactions of bacteria with surfaces have important implications in numerous areas of research, such as bioenergy, biofilm, biofouling, and infection. Recently, several experimental studies have reported that the adhesion of bacteria can be reduced considerably by microscale wall features. To clarify the effect of wall configurations, we numerically investigated the behavior of swimming bacteria near a flat wall with a bump line. The results showed that the effects of bump configuration are significant; a detachment time larger than several seconds can be achieved in certain parameter sets. These results illustrate that the number density of bacteria near the wall may be reduced by appropriately controlling the parameter sets. When background shear flow was imposed, the near-wall bacterium mainly moved towards the vorticity axis. The detachment time of cells increased significantly by adjusting the bump line to have 45^{∘} relative to the flow direction. The knowledge obtained in this study is fundamental for understanding the interactions between bacteria and surfaces according to more complex geometries, and is useful for reducing the adhesion of cells to walls.