Performance of a Lotka-Volterra System for Representing Biofouling Processes

In order to assess the feasibility and performance of a minimal multiphysics model for representing the spatiotemporal evolution of biofouling process, we selected the coupled diffusive generalization of the Lotka-Volterra PDEs to govern the spatiotemporal evolution of population densities of predator-prey colonies in a computational domain. The implementation of the finite element solution of the system was performed and the associated numerical solution of the system was achieved. An analysis was performed that highlights certain choices of the control parameters of the model and their effect on the spatiotemporal behavior of the system. Potential extensions of the model are presented to incorporate an agent that inhibits antibiofouling and study its effect. An evaluation of the features of the model are concluding the paper.