Fiber Optic and Biofilm Thickness

So I started looking over the DOE Biofilm website I posted yesterday.

I found a very cool side link for research ongoing for acoustic microscopy for biofilm. In a previous post I mused about how to quantify/link biofilm thickness with velocity/viscosity of the water. This is definitely something I need to look at. From what I can see, it uses Ultrasonic Technology (UT).

But wait! When I went to ASCE Pipelines this year in Baltimore, I tagged along with a colleague to go to a forum on fiber optic monitoring for pipelines. I have to admit, I was really excited by what I came across. Dr. Jey Jeyapalan was the organizer and is championing using fiber optic within the ASTM F36 committees.

Another item brought up in the conference was using acoustical fiber optics to be able to hear when a wire breaks on a prestressed concrete cylinder pipe.

So, is there a way to combine fiber optic with the UT technology PNNL is developing to help determine biofilm thickness? Can you use FO to measure viscosity, too?

Found a reference to a thesis that was written in 1990: "Thickness and density measurements in biofilm with a fiber optic sensor", Thesis Defense by Gabriele Walser, MS.

Major finding: The results for biofilm grown in the rotating disk reactor indicate that biofilm thickness depends on shear stress.

Which supports what I was talking about earlier. Looks like there's been some serious research on this. Get to go chase down research. I have trouble with it because I end up chasing lots of rabbit trails.

Here's another idea:

Characterization of the effects of low power pulsed vibration energy on biofouling inhibition in water piping systems

Can you use FO to induce a pulsed vibration to keep biofilm from establishing?