Gliding motion of bacteria on power-law slime

The present investigation deals with an undulating surface model for the motility of bacteria gliding on a layer of non-Newtonian slime. The slime being the viscoelastic material is considered as a power-law fluid. A hydrodynamical model of motility involving an undulating cell surface which transmits stresses through a layer of exuded slime to the substratum is examined. The non-linear differential equation resulting from the balance of momentum and mass is solved numerically by a finite difference method with an iteration technique. The manner in which the various exponent values of the power-law flow affect the structure of the boundary layer is delineated. A comparison is made of the power-law fluid with the Newtonian fluid. For the power-law fluid with respect to different power-law exponent values, shear-thinning and shear-thickening effects can be observed, respectively. Copyright (C) 2004 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.