The Variable Friction Constraint: Defining the Feasible Region in Saturated Flow Networks
Septimiu-Vasile Sarca · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2025
Standard flow optimization models typically assume that nodal capacity is a static parameter independent of the system'sinternal state. However, empirical observation of saturated networks reveals a 'hysteresis' phenomenon where effectivethroughput degrades as node density increases. This note proposes the 'Variable Friction Constraint', a linear inequalitythat couples throughput to backlog. We define the 'Interaction Penalty' (alpha) as a phenomenological constantrepresenting the entropy cost of agent-to-agent interactions. This formulation provides a rigorous geometric definition ofthe feasible operating region for robust network control.