A note on the orientation of symmetric rigid bodies sedimenting in a power-law fluid Original Research Article

We study the terminal orientation of symmetric bodies translating in a quiescent liquid modeled by the power-law fluid. We are able to show by invoking the symmetries of the sedimenting body and the Stokes flow field that at small Reynolds numbers, the competition of inertial and shear-thinning (or shear-thickening) contributions to the torque does not cause the tilt angle that is observed in experiments performed on viscoelastic liquids with shear-thinning properties.