In-situ study of shear resistant (SR-) biofilm formation in a mesoscale turbulent channel facility

Biofouling of ship hulls is a ubiquitous phenomenon and causes substantial maintenance costs each year. While real-world flow near a ship hull is highly turbulent, past laboratory studies focus largely on understanding biofilm formation mechanisms and identification of phenotypical responses by microbes to a wall under low and laminar flow shear. Recent findings showing biofilm formed over a liquid-liquid interface under large flow shear and capable of resisting shear erosion have reignited interest in investigating shear resistant (SR-) biofilm. To provide new insight on SR-biofilm formation at scales relevant to real-world applications, a mesoscale flow facility enabling the study of in-situ biofilm formation at high turbulent flow shear has been developed. To measure biofilm formation and feedbacks to near-film flow, the facility is instrumented for simultaneous measurements of evolving biofilm structural morphology and the flow field via coupled particle image velocimetry (PIV) and planar laser-induced fluorescence systems (PLIF). Flow conditions for testing are established via PIV measurements conducted prior to biofilm formation. In addition, experiments testing for in-situ biofilm formation from natural microbial assemblage collected at Corpus Christi Bay are performed.