Penetrative phototactic bioconvection in an isotropic scattering suspension

Phototaxis is a directed swimming response dependent upon the light intensity sensed by micro-organisms. Positive (negative) phototaxis denotes the motion directed towards (away from) the source of light. Using the phototaxis model of Ghorai, Panda, and Hill ["Bioconvection in a suspension of i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physics of fluids (1994) 2013-07, Vol.25 (7)
Main Authors: Panda, M K, Ghorai, S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Boundaries
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Navier-Stokes equations
Radiative transfer
Scattering
Swimming
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Summary:Phototaxis is a directed swimming response dependent upon the light intensity sensed by micro-organisms. Positive (negative) phototaxis denotes the motion directed towards (away from) the source of light. Using the phototaxis model of Ghorai, Panda, and Hill ["Bioconvection in a suspension of isotropically scattering phototactic algae," Phys. Fluids22, 071901 (2010)]10.1063/1.3457163, we investigate two-dimensional phototactic bioconvection in an absorbing and isotropic scattering suspension in the nonlinear regime. The suspension is confined by a rigid bottom boundary, and stress-free top and lateral boundaries. The governing equations for phototactic bioconvection consist of Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid coupled with a conservation equation for micro-organisms and the radiative transfer equation for light transport. The governing system is solved efficiently using a semi-implicit second-order accurate conservative finite-difference method. The radiative transfer equation is solved by the finite volume method using a suitable step scheme. The resulting bioconvective patterns differ qualitatively from those found by Ghorai and Hill ["Penetrative phototactic bioconvection," Phys. Fluids17, 074101 (2005)]10.1063/1.1947807 at a higher critical wavelength due to the effects of scattering. The solutions show transition from steady state to periodic oscillations as the governing parameters are varied. Also, we notice the accumulation of micro-organisms in two horizontal layers at two different depths via their mean swimming orientation profile for some governing parameters at a higher scattering albedo.
ISSN:1070-6631
0031-9171
1089-7666
DOI:10.1063/1.4813402