Dimensional analysis as a tool for biofilm comparative analysis: bridging the interdisciplinary divides.

Abstract

Biofilms are the predominant lifestyle for bacteria. Biofilm abundance makes understanding their behavior important for different research domains. These domains can have different information and reporting standards. Information reporting standards have been proposed for some biofilm research methods. Standard methods and consensus standards have also been promulgated. We propose dimensional analysis to encourage abundant information reporting and facilitate comparative analysis. Dimensional analysis utilizes physical system parameters to generate generalizable model data. We review dimensionless quantities that can be applied to biofilm studies. We suggest dimensionless quantities for existing standards, with three examples using dimensional analysis to quantitatively compare literature data.