  Jellyfish have been called one of the most energy-efficient animals in the
world due to the ease in which they move through their fluid environment, by
product of their morphological, muscular, and material properties. We
investigated jellyfish locomotion by conducting \textit{in silico} comparative
studies and explored swimming performance across different fluid scales (e.g.,
Reynolds Number), bell contraction frequencies, and contraction phase
kinematics for a jellyfish with a fineness ratio of 1 (ratio of bell height to
bell diameter). To study these relationships, an open source implementation of
the immersed boundary method was used (\textit{IB2d}) to solve the fully
coupled fluid-structure interaction problem of a flexible jellyfish bell in a
viscous fluid. Thorough 2D parameter subspace explorations illustrated optimal
parameter combinations in which give rise to enhanced swimming performance. All
performance metrics indicated a higher sensitivity to bell actuation frequency
than fluid scale or contraction phase kinematics, via Sobol sensitivity
analysis, on a high performance parameter subspace. Moreover, Pareto-like
fronts were identified in the overall performance space involving the cost of
transport and forward swimming speed. Patterns emerged within these performance
spaces when highlighting different parameter regions, which complemented the
global sensitivity results. Lastly, an open source computational model for
jellyfish locomotion is offered to the science community that can be used as a
starting place for future numerical experimentation.
