What do biofilms sense in agitated well plates? A combined CFD and experimental study on spatial and temporal wall shear stress distribution

This work presents a numerical simulation of the flow inside agitated well plates commonly used to study bacterial biofilms. The time-varying wall shear stresses are deduced from the calculated velocity field and validated experimentally. The results elucidate aspects of temporal and spatial distribution of the shear stresses acting on biofilm structures grown within these plates. It is shown that the shear stress distribution depends on both agitation frequency and local location at the bottom surface. Moreover, the mean shear stress field under orbital motion differs greatly from that under rotational motion.