Elastomeric sandpaper replicas as model systems for investigating elasticity, roughness and associated drag in a marine biofilm flow cell
Elastomeric sandpaper replicas as model systems for investigating elasticity, roughness and associated drag in a marine biofilm flow cell
Biofilm heterogeneity and adaptability complicates efforts to link biofilm structural and mechanical properties to frictional drag. As a result, rigid structures are typically used as the benchmark for studying biofilm-associated drag. Elastomeric sandpaper replicas were generated to be used as model systems for investigating the effect of roughness and elasticity on drag, over the Reynolds number range of approximately 2.0 × 104 to 5.2 × 104 Re using a marine biofilm flow cell. To control for roughness parameters and surface topography the replicas were created for sandpaper grit numbers: P40, P80 and P240 with average measured roughness (Sa) of 108, 49 and 16 μm, respectively. Profilometry confirmed that there was no significant difference between the roughness of the rigid sandpaper sources and the material replicas. The marine biofilm flow cell was fitted with a clear lid, which allowed real-time visualisation of the replicas’ surface topography using Optical Coherence Tomography. Pressure drop measurements, expressed as a friction coefficient, revealed that the elastomeric sandpaper replicas had a significantly higher associated drag, of up to 52%, when compared to the rigid counterparts. From statistical analysis it was confirmed that material mechanical properties, such as elasticity, and surface roughness both significantly affect drag. Elastic model systems can be used to enhance our understanding of biofilm physico-mechanics and their role in marine drag.
Biofilm model, Drag, Elasticity, Flow cell, Physico-mechanical, Roughness
Snowdon, Alexandra
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An, Shi-Qi
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Finnie, Alistair
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Dale, Marie
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Dennington, Simon
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Longyear, Jennifer
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Wharton, Julian
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Stoodley, Paul
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15 December 2022
Snowdon, Alexandra
12d3e8c5-fd0d-43c3-8914-8685f0f68d27
An, Shi-Qi
0e05f480-cec1-4c0e-bc1d-359d30ea9a6e
Finnie, Alistair
2d88446a-ef8b-4405-a0fc-a00029583ee7
Dale, Marie
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Dennington, Simon
6a329a55-8c10-4515-8920-d8f40f302221
Longyear, Jennifer
fbc8ed1c-9fe4-45c3-bda4-7ca64551e5ce
Wharton, Julian
965a38fd-d2bc-4a19-a08c-2d4e036aa96b
Stoodley, Paul
08614665-92a9-4466-806e-20c6daeb483f
Snowdon, Alexandra, An, Shi-Qi, Finnie, Alistair, Dale, Marie, Dennington, Simon, Longyear, Jennifer, Wharton, Julian and Stoodley, Paul
(2022)
Elastomeric sandpaper replicas as model systems for investigating elasticity, roughness and associated drag in a marine biofilm flow cell.
Ocean Engineering, 266, [112739].
(doi:10.1016/j.oceaneng.2022.112739).
Abstract
Biofilm heterogeneity and adaptability complicates efforts to link biofilm structural and mechanical properties to frictional drag. As a result, rigid structures are typically used as the benchmark for studying biofilm-associated drag. Elastomeric sandpaper replicas were generated to be used as model systems for investigating the effect of roughness and elasticity on drag, over the Reynolds number range of approximately 2.0 × 104 to 5.2 × 104 Re using a marine biofilm flow cell. To control for roughness parameters and surface topography the replicas were created for sandpaper grit numbers: P40, P80 and P240 with average measured roughness (Sa) of 108, 49 and 16 μm, respectively. Profilometry confirmed that there was no significant difference between the roughness of the rigid sandpaper sources and the material replicas. The marine biofilm flow cell was fitted with a clear lid, which allowed real-time visualisation of the replicas’ surface topography using Optical Coherence Tomography. Pressure drop measurements, expressed as a friction coefficient, revealed that the elastomeric sandpaper replicas had a significantly higher associated drag, of up to 52%, when compared to the rigid counterparts. From statistical analysis it was confirmed that material mechanical properties, such as elasticity, and surface roughness both significantly affect drag. Elastic model systems can be used to enhance our understanding of biofilm physico-mechanics and their role in marine drag.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 24 September 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 8 October 2022
Published date: 15 December 2022
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: The work was sponsored, in part, by AkzoNobel through Paul Stoodley. Employees of AkzoNobel were involved in the work (Jennifer Longyear, Marie Dale and Alistair Finnie).
Funding Information:
This work was funded by a DTP ESPRC grant EP/R513325/1 to the University of Southampton with partial funding from NBIC / BBSRC 01POC18032 and AkzoNobel . The authors would like to thank Dr Kevin Reynolds of AkzoNobel for the design of the elastomers used and Dr Hao-Liang Chen for editorial review.
Keywords:
Biofilm model, Drag, Elasticity, Flow cell, Physico-mechanical, Roughness
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 471571
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/471571
ISSN: 0029-8018
PURE UUID: 4cb5b235-aca1-4613-ad8d-b307c7e6da8e
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Date deposited: 11 Nov 2022 17:48
Last modified: 18 Mar 2024 03:13
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Author:
Alexandra Snowdon
Author:
Shi-Qi An
Author:
Alistair Finnie
Author:
Marie Dale
Author:
Jennifer Longyear
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