hydraulic radius

Noun

hydraulic radius (plural hydraulic radii)

1. (surface science) For a porous material, the ratio of porosity (ratio of volume of interstitial space filled with fluid to volume of material) to specific surface area (ratio of surface area in contact with fluid to volume of material); for a pipe or channel, the ratio of cross-sectional area to wetted perimeter.
   • The hydraulic radius is found from the definition Rₕ = ([volume of (interstitial) pore space filled with fluid]/[surface area of (interstitial) pore apace in contact with fluid]) = (porosity (ε₀)/specific surface area (Sᵥ)), where both ε₀ and Sᵥ are practical and experimentally measurable...1998, Robert Tijssen, “2: The Mechanisms and Importance of Zone-Spreading”, in Elena Katz, Roy Eksteen, Peter Schoenmakers, Neil Miller, editors, Handbook of HPLC, Marcel Decker, page 79
   • However, it is a better plan to use the tractive force formula, t = 1000·R·J, since this explicitly indicates the intervening factors, which are hydraulic radius and slope. In order to reduce the tractive force, it is necessary to reduce the hydraulic radius or the slope or both.
   • It should be remembered that the hydraulic radius is the relationship between the useful area and the wet perimeter of the canal's section, but in a certain fashion this is also an index of the section's shape (Section 1.3). In a first approximation it can be said that the section is wider and...2005, Jose Liria Montanes, Hydraulic Canals: Design, Construction, Regulation and Maintenance, Taylor & Francis, page 175