Evaluation of the effective elastic moduli of particulate composites based on Maxwell’s concept of equivalent inhomogeneity: microstructure-induced anisotropy

Maxwell’s concept of equivalent inhomogeneity is employed for evaluating the effective elastic properties of macroscopically anisotropic particulate composites with isotropic phases. The effective anisotropic elastic properties of the material are obtained by comparing the far-field solutions for the problem of a finite cluster of isotropic particles embedded in an infinite isotropic matrix with those for the problem of a single anisotropic equivalent inhomogeneity embedded in the same matrix. The former solutions precisely account for the interactions between all particles in the cluster and for their geometrical arrangement. Illustrative examples involving periodic (simple cubic) and random composites suggest that the approach provides accurate estimates of their effective elastic moduli.

Keywords

Maxwell’s methodology, anisotropic elastic moduli, particulate composites, spherical particles, spherical harmonics

Milestones

Received: 21 November 2012

Revised: 26 March 2013

Accepted: 4 April 2013

Published: 18 November 2013

Authors

Volodymyr I. Kushch
Institute for Superhard Materials National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine 2 Avtozavodskaya St. Kiev 04074 Ukraine

Sofia G. Mogilevskaya
Department of Civil Engineering University of Minnesota 500 Pillsbury Drive SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
http://www.ce.umn.edu/people/faculty/mogilevs/
Henryk K. Stolarski
Department of Civil Engineering University of Minnesota 500 Pillsbury Drive SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States

Steven L. Crouch
Department of Civil Engineering University of Minnesota 500 Pillsbury Drive SE Minneapolis, MN 55455 United States
http://www.ce.umn.edu/directory/faculty/crouch

Vol. 8, No. 5-7, 2013

Volodymyr I. Kushch, Sofia G. Mogilevskaya, Henryk K. Stolarski and Steven L. Crouch

Abstract

Keywords

Milestones

Authors