Mechanisms of Elastic Enhancement and Hindrance for Finite-Length Undulatory Swimmers in Viscoelastic Fluids

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.