The Measurement Problem in Constructal Theory: Why Entropy Generation Remains Fundamentally Unquantified

Adrian Bejan's Constructal Law has become influential in biological, geological, and engineering science, claiming that natural systems organize to minimize entropy generation subject to constraints. Yet the framework harbors a critical methodological flaw: entropy generation is never measured during actual system formation but only *reconstructed post-hoc* through theoretical comparison. This article demonstrates that Bejan's approach commits the same complementarity error as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle—attempting to simultaneously specify both the entropy state and the rate of entropy change, quantities that are thermodynamically conjugate. We examine the operational definition of entropy generation in Bejan's work, expose its retroactive nature, and argue that the framework confuses state-function inference with process measurement. Finally, we propose that impedance-based measurement offers a thermodynamically rigorous alternative that avoids both the complementarity problem and Bejan's systematic blindness to fractal structure in the "interstices" he dismisses as thermodynamic waste.

PAPERS

Aaron T White

12/24/2025