Fluid medium effect on stresses in suspensions of high-inertia rod-like particles

•Investigated Couette flow of inertial rod-like particles via CFD-DEM simulations.•Effect of particle shape on measured shear stresses is substantial.•Rods in air show stress scaling similar to dry granular flow, but with altered values.•Rods in water show different stress scaling than in air or dry.•Rod-like particles under shear flow show strong tendency to shear alignment.