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Characteristic Length

Characteristic length is a key dimension in physics that defines the scale of a physical system and is used in formulas to predict system characteristics. In computational mechanics, it helps localize stress softening in constitutive equations and is calculated based on the area or volume associated with an integration point. Examples include its application in fluid mechanics for calculating flow conditions in pipes and rocket engine combustion chambers.

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498 views2 pages

Characteristic Length

Characteristic length is a key dimension in physics that defines the scale of a physical system and is used in formulas to predict system characteristics. In computational mechanics, it helps localize stress softening in constitutive equations and is calculated based on the area or volume associated with an integration point. Examples include its application in fluid mechanics for calculating flow conditions in pipes and rocket engine combustion chambers.

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maj3stick
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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30/1/25, 1:41 p.m.

Characteristic length - Wikipedia

Characteristic length
In physics, a characteristic length is an important dimension that defines the scale of a physical
system. Often, such a length is used as an input to a formula in order to predict some characteristics of
the system, and it is usually required by the construction of a dimensionless quantity, in the general
framework of dimensional analysis and in particular applications such as fluid mechanics.

In computational mechanics, a characteristic length is defined to force localization of a stress


softening constitutive equation. The length is associated with an integration point. For 2D analysis, it
is calculated by taking the square root of the area. For 3D analysis, it is calculated by taking the cubic
root of the volume associated to the integration point.[1]

Examples
A characteristic length is usually the volume of a system divided by its surface:[2]

For example, it is used to calculate flow through circular and non-circular tubes in order to examine
flow conditions (i.e., the Reynolds number). In those cases, the characteristic length is the diameter of
the pipe or, in case of non-circular tubes, its hydraulic diameter :

Where is the cross-sectional area of the pipe and is its wetted perimeter. It is defined such that it
reduces to a circular diameter of D for circular pipes.

For flow through a square duct with a side length of a, the hydraulic diameter is:

For a rectangular duct with side lengths a and b:

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30/1/25, 1:41 p.m. Characteristic length - Wikipedia

For free surfaces (such as in open-channel flow), the wetted perimeter includes only the walls in
contact with the fluid.[3]

Similarly, in the combustion chamber of a rocket engine, the characteristic length is defined as the
[4]
chamber volume divided by the throat area. Because the throat of a de Laval nozzle is smaller than
the cross section of the combustion chamber, the characteristic length is greater than the physical
length of the combustion chamber.

References
1. Oliver, J. (1989), A consistent characteristic length for smeared cracking models. Int. J. Numer.
Meth. Engng., 28: 461-474. https://doi.org/10.1002/nme.1620280214
2. "Characteristic Length - calculator" (https://www.fxsolver.com/browse/formulas/Characteristic+Len
gth). fxSolver. Retrieved 2018-07-08.
3. Çengel, Yunus A.; Cimbala, John M. (2014). Fluid mechanics: fundamentals and applications
(3rd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-338032-2. OCLC 880405759 (https://search.wor
ldcat.org/oclc/880405759).
4. "What is Characteristic Length in a rocket engine?" (https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/2
2730/what-is-characteristic-length-in-a-rocket-engine). space.stackexchange.com. 20 August
2017.

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Characteristic_length&oldid=1245996848"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characteristic_length 2/2

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