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Data-driven modeling of heterogeneous viscoelastic biofilms
  • Mengfei Li,
  • Karel Matouš,
  • Robert Nerenberg
Mengfei Li
University of Notre Dame College of Engineering

Corresponding Author:mli14@nd.edu

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Karel Matouš
University of Notre Dame
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Robert Nerenberg
University of Notre Dame
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Abstract

Biofilms are typically heterogeneous in morphology, structure, and composition, resulting in non-uniform mechanical properties. The distribution of mechanical properties, in turn, determines the biofilm mechanical behavior, such as deformation and detachment. Most past studies neglected heterogeneity of biofilms. In this study, an image-based modeling approach was developed to transform two-dimensional optical coherence tomography biofilm images to a pixel-scale non-Newtonian viscosity map of the biofilm. The spatial distribution of non-Newtonian viscosity was applied in an established Oldroyd-B constitutive model and implemented using the phase-field continuum approach for the deformation and stress analysis. The heterogeneous model was able to predict deformations and stresses more accurately than a homogenous one. This is the first time, to the best of our knowledge, that an image-based approach is used to map the mechanical heterogeneity of biofilms for computational studies. It provides an efficient method to characterize biofilm mechanical behavior.
29 Sep 2021Submitted to Biotechnology and Bioengineering
30 Sep 2021Submission Checks Completed
30 Sep 2021Assigned to Editor
21 Oct 2021Reviewer(s) Assigned
19 Nov 2021Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
19 Nov 2021Editorial Decision: Revise Major
21 Jan 20221st Revision Received
22 Jan 2022Submission Checks Completed
22 Jan 2022Assigned to Editor
30 Jan 2022Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Jan 2022Editorial Decision: Accept
May 2022Published in Biotechnology and Bioengineering volume 119 issue 5 on pages 1301-1313. 10.1002/bit.28056