Moving boundary problem for the detachment in multispecies biofilms

Abstract

The work presents the qualitative analysis of the free boundary value problem related to the detachment process in multispecies biofilms. In the framework of continuum approach to one-dimensional mathematical modelling of multispecies biofilm growth, we consider the system of nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations governing the microbial species growth, the differential equation for the biomass velocity, the differential equation that governs the free boundary evolution and also accounts for detachment, and the elliptic system for substrate dynamics. The characteristics are used to convert the original moving boundary equation into a suitable differential equation useful to solve the mathematical problem. We also provide another form of the same equation that could be used in numerical applications. Several properties of the solutions to the free boundary problem are shown, such as positiveness of the functions that describe the microbial concentrations and estimates on the characteristic functions. Uniqueness and existence of solutions are proved by introducing a suitable system of Volterra integral equations and using the fixed point theorem.