title: Mechanisms of elastic enhancement and hindrance for finite-length undulatory swimmers in viscoelastic fluids.
abstract: A computational model of finite-length undulatory swimmers is used to examine the physical origin of the effect of elasticity on swimming speed. We explore two distinct target swimming strokes: one derived from the motion of Caenorhabditis elegans, with large head undulations, and a contrasting stroke with large tail undulations. We show that both favorable stroke asymmetry and swimmer elasticity contribute to a speed-up, but a substantial boost results only when these two effects work together. We reproduce conflicting results from the literature simply by changing relevant physical parameters.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Becca
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Thomases
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, University of California, Davis, California 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Guy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008954:Models, Biological; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013550:Swimming / Q000502:physiology*; D055682:Viscoelastic Substances / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D055682:Viscoelastic Substances