Dataset for "Biofilms at interfaces: microbial distribution in floating films"

The dataset contains results of numerical simulations of the motion of model microorganisms within a 'floating biofilm', i.e., confinement with an air-liquid interface on one side and a liquid-liquid interface on the other. The microorganisms are modeled as singular force distributions characteristic of the stresses exerted by the microorganism on its surrounding fluid. The study was performed to investigate how microbial morphology affects their hydrodynamic interactions with interfaces. In addition, our study informs us how these hydrodynamic interactions bias the accumulation of microorganisms toward either the air-liquid interface or the liquid-liquid interface. This analysis is very relevant in the study of biofilm incipience on liquid-liquid interfaces.

The data has been obtained as a result of numerical simulations of microbial motion within the 'floating film.' In the simulation, a given number 'N' (1,000 or 10,000) of non-interacting microorganisms (also referred to as 'swimmers') are initially 'placed' uniformly within the film and are assigned random initial orientations. The simulations are run until a statistically steady state is reached. The swimmer trajectories evolve according to the hydrodynamic interactions underpinning their motion. The data contain the time-averaged position and orientation of the 'N' micro-swimmers in the simulations. These quantities will, in general, depend on the morphology of the microorganisms, e.g., the location of their flagella with respect to the direction of motion, the relative lengths of the flagellum and the cell body, the elongation of the micro-swimmer, etc. All these dependencies are explored in the numerical simulations, and the data thus generated are shared here. This dataset supports the publication: Desai, N., & Ardekani, A. M. (2020). Biofilms at interfaces: microbial distribution in floating films. Soft Matter, 16(7), 1731–1750. doi:10.1039/c9sm02038a