Greg Herschlag, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill


Jellyfish Pumping Dynamics at Various Reynolds Numbers

Abstract: We study jet propulsion found in jellyfish at intermediate Reynolds number with varied kinetics and geometries.  A two dimensional Immersed Boundary Method is used to simulate the dynamics.  The model of the jellyfish parametrizes the jelly shape as an ellipsoid and uses a first order forcing scheme to interact with the fluid.  These estimates provide scaling predictions of attainable forward velocity verses Reynolds number based on a selection of kinetic and geometric strategies.  This work is a step into fully resolving the fluid interactions with an imposed immersed body at intermediate Reynolds number. We find that a rigid velum does indeed cause dramatic slow down in propulsive ability and discover a region of interest where increasing viscosity can actually decrease forward speed.

Mentor: Laura Miller