Maximum dissipation resulting from lift in a slow viscous shear flow

The lift tensor for any three-dimensional body moving in a linear shear flow at low Reynolds numbers has been calculated by asympototic methods. The tensor is applied to the problem of the motion of a dumb-bell shaped particle. The particle is shown to have a preferred periodic orbit which corresponds to maximum dissipation. The dissipation is calculated and the intrinsic viscosity of a dilute suspension of such particles is predicted. Experiments conducted with a single particle tend to confirm the stability of the predicted orientation.