Periodic arrays of gyrotactic plumes in bioconvection

Using the continuum model of Pedley et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 195, 223 (1988)] for bioconvection in a suspension of swimming, gyrotactic micro-organisms, the existence and stability of periodic arrays of two-dimensional plumes in deep chambers are investigated. The system is governed by the Navier–Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid coupled with a micro-organism conservation equation. These equations are solved numerically using a conservative finite-difference scheme. In sufficiently deep chambers, the plumes are sometimes unstable to varicose or meandering modes. A linear stability analysis for an infinitely deep plume predicts the growth rates of these instabilities and agrees well with the numerical results.