TauFactor

TauFactor is a MATLAB application for efficient, image-based quantification of transport-relevant microstructural metrics in porous media. From 3D (or 2D) voxelized microstructure data, it computes the tortuosity factor. A measure of the effective reduction in diffusive transport caused by the convolution of pathways, along with associated descriptors including phase volume fractions, interfacial surface areas, and triple-phase boundary (TPB) densities. Initially developed for analyzing electrode microstructures in batteries and fuel cells, TauFactor is applicable to broader domains (e.g., geoscience, biology, optics) where tortuosity influences mass transport.

The tool is intended as a direct, simulation-based alternative to empirical correlations (e.g., Bruggeman-type approximations) when high-resolution tomography is available, enabling fast, accurate estimation of tortuosity on large modern datasets (large voxel counts) without requiring high-performance computing resources.