tortuosity
(describes something curved with many twists and turns)
The word tortuosity (adjective: tortuous) indicates the quality of
a curving object of having many curves and/or twists. It can be
used to describe the path of a river, and is sometimes used to
describe the channels through a porous material.
Some measures have been devised to quantify it,
necessarily adopting a more specific definition,
probably adapted to a specific type of issue.
One (simple) measure:
τ = L/C
- τ - tortuosity (in this case, arc-chord ratio).
- L - length of the curve (i.e., arc length).
- C - straight-line distance between the ends of the curve.
(science,measure)
Further reading:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortuosity
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/tortuosity
https://petrowiki.spe.org/Glossary:Tortuosity
https://glossary.slb.com/en/Terms/t/tortuosity.aspx
https://digitalatlas.cose.isu.edu/hydr/concepts/gwater/tortflw.htm
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