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Investigation of the onset of thermo-bioconvection in a suspension of oxytactic microorganisms in a shallow fluid layer heated from below

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Abstract

This paper investigates the combined effect of density stratification due to oxytactic upswimming and heating from below on the stability of a suspension of motile oxytactic microorganisms in a shallow fluid layer. Different from traditional bioconvection, thermo-bioconvection has two destabilizing mechanisms that contribute to creating the unstable density stratification. This problem may be relevant to a number of geophysical applications, such as the investigation of the dynamics of some species of thermophiles (heat loving microorganisms) living in hot springs. By performing a linear stability analysis, we obtained a correlation between the critical value of the bioconvection Rayleigh number and the traditional, “thermal” Rayleigh number. It is established that heating from below makes the system more unstable and helps the development of bioconvection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 7910, Raleigh, NC, 27695-7910, USA

    A. V. Kuznetsov

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  1. A. V. Kuznetsov
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Correspondence to A. V. Kuznetsov.

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Communicated by O. E. Jensen

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Kuznetsov, A.V. Investigation of the onset of thermo-bioconvection in a suspension of oxytactic microorganisms in a shallow fluid layer heated from below. Theor. Comput. Fluid Dyn. 19, 287–299 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00162-005-0167-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00162-005-0167-3

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