Cd. Vansiclen, INFORMATION ENTROPY OF COMPLEX STRUCTURES, Physical review. E, Statistical physics, plasmas, fluids, and related interdisciplinary topics, 56(5), 1997, pp. 5211-5215
The information entropy function provides a sensitive measure of the c
omplexity of a multi-component material system, where ''complexity'' r
efers to the range of length scales over which morphological features
are present. This is demonstrated for an evolving, two-phase microstru
cture simulated by a population of interacting particles on a two-dime
nsional surface. The information entropy increases at all length scale
s as the initially random configuration of particles evolves to produc
e a distribution of ramified clusters. Maxima in the normalized inform
ation entropy function, which is obtained by subtracting the informati
on entropy of a perfectly random configuration from that of the cluste
red configuration, occur at length scales for which the system most di
ffers from a random configuration, while minima occur at length scales
for which the system is periodic or relatively ordered. Besides analy
sis of complex microstructures, information entropy is useful in detec
ting features present in any collection of data.