A mathematical model for biological clogging of uniform porous media

We develop a theory that explains the decrease in saturated hydraulic conductivity Ks due to biological clogging of porous media. Experiments show that discontinuous microcolonies in fine‐textured soils decrease Ks more severely than biofilms do. However, most existing models for biological clogging assume that bacteria cells form biofilms which uniformly cover pore walls. We propose a mathematical model for biological clogging with a quantitative evaluation of the nonuniform microbial distribution of colonies. A series of equations describing the relation between the biological clogging and the saturated hydraulic conductivity are derived. The data of previous researchers are used to validate the model.