Microbial Growth Model and Stability Analysis

Hong Men, Yuhong Li

School of Automation Engineering
Northeast Dianli University
Jilin, China
e-mail: menhong_bme@163.com
Fangbao Tian
Department of Modern Mechanics
University of Science and Technology of China
Hefei, China
onetfbao@gmail.com


AbstractMicrobial growth is a very complex non-linear
system, so there is important engineering significance to study
its growth model in holding back biofouling, eliminating
biofouling and preventing corrosion. In this paper, a non-
linear dynamic model of microbial growth was built based on
the theories of the diffusion response of thermodynamics and
the chemotactic response of biology. The model involves three
variables, the density of bacteria, the concentration of
attractant and the pH value. A temporal linear instability is
carried out to analyze the stability of the model. The
relationship between the growth rate and the wavenumber
is expressed by a cubic equation. The results reveal that the
stability of three variables does not exist under the conditions
involved in present paper.
Keywords- growth model; microbe; stability
I. INTRODUCTION
In the industrial cooling water systems, biofouling and
bio-corrosion has been recognized to be a critical issue.
Biofouling is formed by microbial deposition which attached
to the surface of the pipelines and industrial equipments. The
deposition of Biofouling over long-term will ultimately
increase pressure drop over the pipelines, reduce the flow
rate and lead to the obstruction of pipes. In addition, bio-
corrosion is caused by microbes, especially the Sulfate-
Reducing Bacteria. The acid excreted by the bacteria erodes
the surface of metal and forms corrosion pits, resulting in
equipments damaged. Since microbial growth greatly affects
the forming of biofouling and microbial corrosion, therefore,
there is important engineering significance to study and
predict microbial growth in holding back biofouling,
eliminating biofouling and preventing corrosion.
Furthermore, microbes grow in a considerable complex
nonlinear system which contains very rich contents. Hence,
there is profound theoretical value to research on microbial
growth.
There are various mathematical models about researching
on microbial growth in the history, but the K-S Model
designed by Keller & Segel [1, 2] based on the behavior of
bacterial chemotaxis becomes a dominant approach to
building the continuous dynamic model in microbial system.
Later, many researchers improved and developed the K-S
Model. However, most of them didnt consider the influence
of the pH value on the model. In fact, the pH value also has a
significant impact on microbial growth and as is proved by
other literatures [3]. Therefore, in addition to the above
mentioned factors considered, the pH value as an important
factor is considered in this paper. Accordingly, a
mathematical model is established, and small perturbations
normal module method is adopted to analyze the stability of
the system.
II. MATHEMATICL MODEL
Lin built continuous partial differential equations about
the amoebas aggregation and diffusion behavior [4]. He
took account of the relationship between the density of
bacteria and the concentration of attractant. But so far, the
pH value has not been considered as an influential factor on
the system in the control equations. The following will be a
detailed description the relationship between the density of
bacteria, the concentration of food (also called the
concentration of attractant) and the pH value, and the control
equations of the model are governed by
( ) ( ) ( )
u
u u f auf bu u
t

= + +

(1)
( )
f
su gu hf f
t

= + +

(2)
( )
s
t

= +

(3)
Where, u is the density of bacteria, f is the concentration
of food or the concentration of nutrition, here it is defined as
the concentration of attractant; is the pH value of the
aqueous solution where bacteria lives;
s
is the source of the
pH value and t is the time.
Equation (1) denotes the increase rate of bacterial density,
where the first term on the right represents the diffusion
response which always disperses along the gradient in the
opposite direction of bacterial density and it represents the
motion of the bacteria in the absence of attractant. The
motility parameter, , represents the acuteness degree of the
random motion of bacteria, here called the bacterial
diffusion coefficient. The second term denotes the
chemotactic response of bacteria, describes the behavior that
bacteria moves towards any element which is conducive for
their survival, here represented as f . is a measure of the
strength of chemotaxis, and is termed the chemotactic
coefficient. The third term describes the reproduction of
bacteria which is influenced by two factors, one is maternal
2009 First International Workshop on Education Technology and Computer Science
978-0-7695-3557-9/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ETCS.2009.529
29
2009 First International Workshop on Education Technology and Computer Science
978-0-7695-3557-9/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ETCS.2009.529
29
2009 First International Workshop on Education Technology and Computer Science
978-0-7695-3557-9/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ETCS.2009.529
29
2009 First International Workshop on Education Technology and Computer Science
978-0-7695-3557-9/09 $25.00 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/ETCS.2009.529
29
bacteria and another is nourishment, namely termed
attractant, where a is reproduction rate per bacteria. The
fourth term describes the bacterial natural death which
relates to the number of bacterial population, b denotes the
mortality rate per bacteria. The fifth term describes the
contribution of the pH value to microbial growth, and it is
presented as a function ( ) which can be taken as Gauss
function or rectangular function [3].
Equation (2) denotes the secretion rate of attractant, where
the first term describes the consumption of attractant by
bacteria, s denotes the consumption rate per bacteria; The
second term describes that bacterial excretion and the dead
bacterial individuals become into foods, g denotes the
conversion rate; The third term describes attractant
degradation, h denotes the degradation rate of per attractant.
The fourth term describes the diffusion response of the
attractant, denotes the diffusion coefficient of the
attractant (also could be other factors which are conducive
for bacterial growth). Equation (3) represents the increase
rate of the pH value, where the first term describes the
diffusion response of the pH value, denotes the diffusion
coefficient of the pH value. The second term denotes the
source of the pH value. Since bacteria lives in the thin layer
of biofilm, we deem that the influence of convection is far
less than the diffusion response [5], thus the influence of the
diffusion are ignored in (3). In addition, the parameters such
as , , a , b , s , g , h , , can be constants, also could
be functions depending on the parameters, u , f , .
III. THE ANALYSIS OF SMALL PERTURBATION
The constants
0
u ,
0
f ,
0
, assumed as a solution for
(1)~(3), then they will meet the following formulas
0 0
( ) 0 af b + = (4)
0 0 0
0 su gu hf + = (5)
0 0 0
( , , ) 0
s
u f = (6)
At that time, the reproduction rate of bacteria and the
positive contribution of the pH value to bacterial growth are
equal to the death rate of bacteria. Moreover, the secretion
rate or the generation rate of attractant is offset by the
consumption rate of attractant by bacteria. Therefore, the
system is in a uniform state. That is, the system is in an
equilibrium point. In the following, we will research on the
stability of the system when it is disturbed by a small
perturbation and deviates from the equilibrium point. If the
small perturbation tends to disappear, the system is stable; if
the perturbation is enlarged and became very powerful,
which makes the system deviating from the equilibrium
point into the collapse or entering another equilibrium point,
the system is unstable.
Supposing at some point, a small perturbation appears,
'
u ,
'
f and
'
respectively describes the perturbation of
bacterial density, the perturbation of attractant concentration
and the perturbation of the pH value which deviate from the
uniform state of the system, and they are all small
quantities. Here the disturbed physical quantities are termed
as
'
0
u u + ,
'
0
f f + ,
'
0
+ respectively. We put them into
the (1) ~ (3), then subtract the basic field and ignore the
non-linear quantities resulting from the product of two small
quantities, consequently obtaining
'
' ' '
0 0 0
( ) ( ) [ ( ) ]
u
u u f u af
t

= + +

(7)
'
' ' ' '
( )
f
su gu hf f
t

= + +

(8)
'
' ' '
( )
s s
u f
t u f



= + +

' s

(9)
For the above-mentioned small perturbation linear partial
differential equations, the linear stability is analyzed with
normal module method [6]. Assuming the solutions for (7) ~
(9) are in the forms by the following
'
1
sin( )
t
u C qx e

= (10)
'
2
sin( )
t
f C qx e

= (11)
'
3
sin( )
t
C qx e

= (12)
Here
1
C ,
2
C ,
3
C is constant respectively. The assumed
solutions of the above are put into the small perturbation
equations, obtaining
2 2
1 1 0 2 0 2
C q C u q C u aC = + +
'
0 0 3
( ) u C + (13)
2
2 1 2 2
( ) C g s C hC q C = (14)
2
3 3 1 2
s s
C q C C C
u u



= + +

(15)
These equations are the homogeneous equations of
1
C ,
2
C
,
3
C ,and the conditions for the solvability of (13)~(15) are
2 2 '
0 0 0
2
2
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
( )
( ) 0 0
( , , ) ( , , ) ( , , )
s s s
q u q u a
g s h q
u f u f q u f
u f

+
+ + =

+

(16)
Open (16), well get the following cubic equation,
3 2
0 A B C + + + = (17)
That is the general spectrum relationship. Here
2
( )
s
A q h

= + + +

(18)
4
0
( ) [ (
s
B q h h u g s

= + + + +

2 '
0 0
] ) ( ) ( )
s s s
q h g s u a
u






(19)


30 30 30 30
6 4
0 0 0
( ) [(
s
C q h u g u s q u g

= + + +

' 2
0 0
) ( )]
s s
u s h u a g s q
u

' '
0
( ) ( )
s s s
g s h u a g s
f u

+

(20)
The general solutions for (17) are
1/ 3 2
1 1/ 3
2 ( 3 )
3 3 3 2
A A B

+
= +

(21)
2
2 2/ 3 1/ 3
(1 3 )( 3 ) (1 3 )
3 3 2 6 2
A i A B i

+ +
= +

(22)
2
3 2/ 3 1/ 3
(1 3 )( 3 ) (1 3 )
3 3 2 6 2
A i A B i

+ +
= +

(23)
here
2 2 2 2 3
[ 2 9 27 3 3( 4 4 A AB C A B B A C = + + + +
2 1/ 2 1/ 3
18 27 ) ] ABC C + (24)
It is obvious that the solutions look very simple in the
forms, but it is considerable complex to look for neutral
curves. In order to simplify the problem without loss of
generality, some of the parameters can be given up for the
time being, that is the assumption that some parameters
have been known or they are not important, then the
influence of the factors on the perturbation can be further
studied.
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
A. Parameter Values
In general, when the small perturbation problem is
searched, we only care for the developing state of the
substantial concentration after equilibrium state is disturbed
for a little time, not involved in the evolution for a long time.
In other words, we only concern the transient developing
trend of perturbation. Hence, assumptions should be taken
that there is no the reproduction or death of bacterial
individuals and there is no dead bacteria being transformed
into attractant or there is no attractants degradation in this
course, so the parameters a , b , g , h and the function can
all be taken to be zero. In addition,
s
is a complex physical
quantity, temporarily assumed as a constant in order to
simplify the problem. Accordingly, (16) is simplified into
3 2 2 4 2
0
( ) [( ) ] q q s u q + + + + + + +
6 4
0
0 q s u q + + = (25)
According to the datum provided by the literature [7], we
make
5 2
1.5 10 / cm s

= ,
5 2
1 10 / cm s

= ,
4 2
0
50 7.5 10 / , cm s

= =
))) 10 1 /( ( 1 /( 5 . 7 ) (
4
M f f

+ = ,
In order to make the problem feasible, we suppose
s cm const / 10 5 . 7
2 4
= = .
B. Stability Aanalysis
Assuming
4 2
7.5 10 / const cm s

= = , it can be seen
that is the function of variables, , s , and the value of
can be affected by the three parameters. From the form of
the small perturbations solutions(10)~(12), it can be seen
that the system is in a stable neutral state
while Re[ ] 0 = ;The small perturbation will be enlarged
with time going while Re[ ] 0 > , and finally it will be away
from the equilibrium point and lose the steady-state; But
while Re[ ] 0 < , the small perturbation will decay with time
going, and finally the system will eliminate the small
perturbation and restore the original state.
To illustrate the problem, here, three different values are
set to
2
q . Observing the solutions for (25), we analyze
simply the growth rate of the perturbation under the three
different
2
q values. Fig. 1~Fig. 3 are the corresponding
contours of about the variables , s , under the
circumstances,
2 5
10 q

= ,
2
1.0 q = ,
2 5
10 q = , respectively.
In these figures, the abscissa is log( ) , and the ordinate is
log( ) s . The real lines describe that the real part of is a
positive number greater than zero, and the broken lines
describe that the real part of is a negative number less
than zero.
1) While q
2
=10
-5

log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
1
] q
2
=10
-5

(a)
31 31 31 31
log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
2
] q
2
=10
-5

(b)
log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
3
] q
2
=10
-5

(c)
Figure 1. The contour of
Re[ ]
while
2 5
10 q

=
: (a) is the contour of
1
Re[ ]
; (b) is the contour of
2
Re[ ]
; (c) is the contour of
3
Re[ ]
.
From Fig. 1. (a), (b) and (c), it can be found that while
2 5
10 q

= , the real part of is respectively
1
Re[ ] 0 > ,
2
Re[ ] 0 < ,
3
Re[ ] 0 <
.This shows thatone
solution will be enlarged with time going , while the other
two solutions will gradually disappear with time going
among the three possible solutions of small perturbation.
Therefore, the entire system will be away from the basic
equilibrium point and lose the stability as a result of one
solution of them being enlarged.
In addition, it can be seen that the contours are almost
parallel to the axis log( ) , which shows that in short-wave
perturbation, the consumption rate of attractant by bacteria
will controls the growth rate of perturbations.
2) While q
2
=1.0
log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
1
] q
2
=1

(a)
log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
2
] q
2
=1

(b)
log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
3
] q
2
=1

(c)
Figure 2. The contour of
Re[ ]
while
2
1.0 q =
: (a) is the contour of
1
Re[ ]
; (b) is the contour of
2
Re[ ]
; (c) is the contour of
3
Re[ ]
.
From Fig.2. (a), (b) and (c), it can be found that while
2
1.0 q = , the real part of is respectively
1
Re[ ] 0 > ,
2
Re[ ] 0 < ,
3
Re[ ] 0 <
.This shows that one
solution will be enlarged with time going, while the other
two solutions will gradually disappear with the time going
among the three possible solutions of small perturbation.
Therefore, the entire system will be away from the basic
equilibrium point and lose the stability as a result of one
solution of them being enlarged. However, the growth rate of
32 32 32 32
perturbation becomes into being controlled by a combination
of the consumption rate of attractant and the diffusion rate of
the pH value from being controlled by the former singly.
3) While q
2
=10
5

log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
1
] q
2
=10
5

(a)
log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
2
] q
2
=10
5

(b)
log()
l
o
g
(
s
)
-20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 -8
-20
-18
-16
-14
-12
-10
-8
Re[
3
] q
2
=10
5

(c)
Figure 3. The contour of
Re[ ]
while
2 5
10 q =
: (a) is the contour of
1
Re[ ]
; (b) is the contour of
2
Re[ ]
; (c) is the contour of
3
Re[ ]
.
From Fig. 3, we can find that the situation is similar with
the above two instances. But it still can be seen that the
growth rate of the perturbation is controlled by the diffusion
rate of the pH value.
The results of Lin et al. didnt consider the consumption of
attractant by bacteria, so their results are stable in short-wave
perturbation [4], and the instability of the system resulted
from the chemotaxis of bacteria and the degradation of
attractant. Here without the supplement of food from the
outside world, so the consumption of food by bacteria is
bound to lead to the collapse of the microbial equilibrium
system, which can evolve into another kind of non-uniform
equilibrium or lead to the extinction of microbes.
We can see from the above figures that the real part of
1

is always greater than zero when three different values are
set to
2
q , which means that certain solution of the growth
rate is always greater than zero.
V. CONCLUSIONS
In this paper, a microbial growth model was designed
and the stability of a small perturbation equation was
analyzed under the control of three variable
parameters , s ,
2
q . When three different values were set
2
q respectively, one of the solutions of the growth rate is
always enlarged over time. Therefore, the conclusion was
drawn that the stability of uniform microbes does not exist.
This stability of the system was analyzed under a special
condition, and the conclusion was available only under the
values in the present paper. This shows that in this case, the
pit and fissure distributed uniformly does not exit. It may be
the result of the nonuniform growth of biofouling or there
being not biofouling. Of course, this does not mean that the
stability of the system does not exist, more detailed
discussions will be studied in the further work.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work is supported both by CNSF # 60604023 and
by National Basic Research Program of China (973
Program) #2007CB206904 to Hong Men.
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[2] E.F. Keller, and L.A. Segel, Model for chemotaxis, J. theor.
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[3] Q. L. Wang, and X. M. Liu, Effects of pH and temperature on
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[4] C. C. Lin, and L. A. Segel, Mathematics Applied to Deterministic
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[5] D. Beer, and P. Stoodley, Relation between the structure of an
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[6] W. Criminale, T.L. Jacksen, and R.D. Joslin, Theory and
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