A Thermodynamic Hypothesis Regarding Optimality Principles for Flow Processes in Geosystems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a thermodynamic hypothesis suggesting that nonlinear, non-isolated systems with positive feedbacks tend to minimize their flow resistance, explaining flow behaviors in various geosystems and emphasizing that only the driving process is optimized.

Contribution

It presents a new thermodynamic hypothesis linking flow resistance minimization to system feedbacks and clarifies that only the driving process is subject to optimality in complex systems.

Findings

Flow behavior in porous media aligns with the hypothesis.

Earth-atmosphere system conforms to the proposed principle.

Optimization applies specifically to the driving process in multiple flow scenarios.

Abstract

This paper proposes a new thermodynamic hypothesis that states that a nonlinear natural system that is not isolated and involves positive feedbacks tends to minimize its resistance to the flow process through it that is imposed by its environment. We demonstrate that the hypothesis is consistent with flow behavior in saturated and unsaturated porous media, river basins, and the Earth-atmosphere system. While optimization for flow processes has been previously discussed by a number of researchers in the literature, the unique contribution of this work is to indicate that only the driving process is subject to optimality when multiple flow processes are simultaneously involved in a system.