Tortuosity

Tortuosity is a property of a curve being tortuous (twisted; having many turns). There have been several attempts to quantify this property. Tortuosity is commonly used to describe diffusion and fluid flow in porous media, such as soils and snow. Tortuosity is a property of a curve being tortuous (twisted; having many turns). There have been several attempts to quantify this property. Tortuosity is commonly used to describe diffusion and fluid flow in porous media, such as soils and snow. Subjective estimation (sometimes aided by optometric grading scales) is often used. The simplest mathematical method to estimate tortuosity is the arc-chord ratio: the ratio of the length of the curve (C) to the distance between the ends of it (L):