Effective elastic properties of matrix composites with transversely-isotropic phases

The present work addresses the problem of calculation of the macroscopic effective elastic properties of composites containing transversely isotropic phases. As a first step, the contribution of a single inhomogeneity to the effective elastic properties is quantified. Relevant stiffness and compliance contribution tensors are derived for spheroidal inhomogeneities. The limiting cases of spherical, penny-shaped and cylindrical shapes are discussed in detail. The property contribution tensors are used to derive the effective elastic moduli of composite materials formed by transversely isotropic phases in two approximations: non-interaction approximation and effective field method. The results are compared with elastic moduli of quasi-random composites.     

Stress State of a Transversely Isotropic Medium with an Arbitrarily Oriented Spheroidal Inclusion

The stress-concentration problem for an elastic transversely isotropic medium containing an arbitrarily oriented spheroidal inclusion (inhomogeneity) is solved. The stress state in the elastic space is represented as the superposition of the principal state and the perturbed state due to the inhomogeneity. The problem is solved using the equivalent-inclusion method, the triple Fourier transform in space variables, and the Fourier-transformed Green function for an infinite anisotropic medium. Double integrals over a finite domain are evaluated using the Gaussian quadrature formulas. In special cases, the results are compared with those obtained by other authors. The influence of the geometry and orientation of the inclusion and the elastic properties of the medium and inclusion on the stress concentration is studied__________Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp. 33–40, February 2005.     

Propagation of electroacoustic waves in the transversely isotropic piezoelectric medium reinforced by randomly distributed cylindrical inhomogeneities

The propagation of electroacoustic waves in a piezoelectric medium containing a statistical ensemble of cylindrical fibers is considered. Both the matrix and the fibers consist of piezoelectric transversely isotropic material with symmetry axis parallel to the fiber axes. Special emphasis is given on the propagation of an electroacoustic axial shear wave polarized parallel to the axis of symmetry propagating in the direction normal to the fiber axis.The scattering problem of one isolated continuous fiber (“one-particle scattering problem”) is considered. By means of a Green’s function approach a system of coupled integral equations for the electroelastic field in the medium containing a single inhomogeneity (fiber) is solved in closed form in the long-wave approximation. The total scattering cross-section of this problem is obtained in closed form and is in accordance with the electroacoustic analogue of the optical theorem.The solution of the one-particle scattering problem is used to solve the homogenization problem for a random set of fibers by means of the self-consistent scheme of effective field method. Closed form expressions for the dynamic characteristics such as total cross-section, effective wave velocity and attenuation factor are obtained in the long-wave approximation.     

Micromechanics predictions of the effective moduli of magnetoelectroelastic composite materials

In this paper, the self-consistent, generalized Mori–Tanaka and dilute micromechanics theories are extended to study the coupled magnetoelectroelastic composite materials. The heterogeneous inclusion problem of magnetoelectroelastic behavior is formulated in terms of five interaction tensors related to the Green's functions for an infinite three-dimensional transversely isotropic magnetoelectroelastic solid. These tensors are then used to predict the effective moduli of the magnetoelectroelastic solid based on the self-consistent, Mori–Tanaka and the dilute approaches. Numerical results are obtained for various types of inclusions. These results are employed to study the effects of the inclusion properties, such as moduli, volume fractions, shapes, etc., on the effective moduli of magnetoelectroelastic composites, in particular, the related magnetic properties. The results obtained using the self-consistent model, the generalized Mori–Tanaka's model and the dilute approach are compared with the existing experimental and theoretical results.     

Elastic fields around a nanosized spheroidal cavity under arbitrary uniform remote loadings

When the size of a cavity shrinks to nanometers, surface effect plays an important role in its mechanical behavior. Based on the surface elasticity, we investigated the elastic fields around a spheroidal cavity embedded in an isotropic elastic medium subjected to arbitrary uniform loadings. Using the displacement potential functions method, we derived the general solution of elastic fields around a nanosized spheroidal cavity with surface effect. For six independent loading cases, the surface effects on the elastic fields around a cavity are presented in detail. It is shown that the elastic fields near a nanosized cavity depend not only on the shape and the size of the cavity but also on the residual surface tension and the surface elastic constants. The surface effect is different in different locations of the nanosized spheroidal cavity and under different remote loadings. The present results are clearly different from the classical ones, and are useful to the damage analysis and prediction of the effective moduli of heterogeneous materials containing nanosized cavities.     

Orientation-dependent adhesion strength of a rigid cylinder in non-slipping contact with a transversely isotropic half-space

Recently, Chen and Gao [Chen, S., Gao, H., 2007. Bio-inspired mechanics of reversible adhesion: orientation-dependent adhesion strength for non-slipping adhesive contact with transversely isotropic elastic materials. J. Mech. Phys. solids 55, 1001–1015] studied the problem of a rigid cylinder in non-slipping adhesive contact with a transversely isotropic solid subjected to an inclined pulling force. An implicit assumption made in their study was that the contact region remains symmetric with respect to the center of the cylinder. This assumption is, however, not self-consistent because the resulting energy release rates at two contact edges, which are supposed to be identical, actually differ from each other. Here we revisit the original problem of Chen and Gao and derive the correct solution by removing this problematic assumption. The corrected solution provides a proper insight into the concept of orientation-dependent adhesion strength in anisotropic elastic solids.     

Prediction of the effective elastic properties of spheroplastics by the generalized self-consistent method

The problem of predicting the effective elastic properties of composites with prescribed random location and radius variation in spherical inclusions is solved using the generalized self-consistent method. The problem is reduced to the solution of the averaged boundary-value problem of the theory of elasticity for a single inclusion with an inhomogeneous transition layer in a medium with desired effective elastic properties. A numerical analysis of the effective properties of a composite with rigid spherical inclusions and a composite with spherical pores is carried out. The results are compared with the known solution for the periodic structure and with the solutions obtained by the standard self-consistent methods. Perm’ State Technical University, Perm’ 614600. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika i Tekhnicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp. 186–190, May–June, 1999.     

Self-consistent field method in the problem about the effective properties of an elastic composite

This paper is devoted to the calculation of effective elastic properties of a medium containing a random field of ellipsoidal inhomogeneities. It is assumed that the centers of the inclusions (the inhomogeneities) form a random spatial lattice, i.e., the field of inhomogeneities considered is strongly correlated. The interaction between the inhomogeneities is taken into account within the frame-work of the self-consistent field approximation. It hence turns out that the symmetry of the tensor of the elastic properties of the medium is determined by the symmetry of the elastic properties of the inclusion matrix, as well as by the symmetry of the spatial lattice formed by the mathematical expectations of the centers of the inclusions.     

Effective thermal conductivity of transversely isotropic media with arbitrary oriented ellipsoïdal inhomogeneities

The objective of this work is to investigate the thermal conduction phenomena in transversely isotropic geomaterials or rock-like composites with arbitrary oriented ellipsoïdal inhomogeneities of low aspect ratio. Based on the evaluation of the Green function, we provide here new expressions for the interaction tensor whose knowledge permits to obtain the concentration tensor of the polarization field used itself to evaluate the effective thermal conductivity tensor by homogenization. Some particular cases of the obtained general solution are equally presented, in order to validate the developed formalism. The obtained results are next used to study the effect of matrix anisotropy, pores systems and microstructure-related parameters on the overall effective thermal conductivity in transversely isotropic rocks. A two-step homogenization scheme is developed for the prediction of the initial anisotropy effects and to test the ability of the proposed model in the evaluation of effective thermal conductivity. With the help of an Orientation Distribution Function (ODF) the anisotropy due to the pore systems is also accounted. Numerical applications and comparisons with available experimental data are finally carried out for a partially saturated Opalinus clay and an argillite which are both composed of an argillaceous matrix and multiple solid minerals constituents.     

Ultrasonic attenuation in polycrystals using a self-consistent approach

The self-consistent method of averaging elastic moduli to define the effective medium of a polycrystal is used to investigate the dynamic problem of wave propagation. An alternative covariance tensor describing the elastic moduli fluctuations of the polycrystal containing self-consistent elastic properties is derived and found to be significantly smaller than the covariance tensor formed through traditional Voigt averaging. Attenuation curves are generated using the self-consistent elastic moduli and covariance tensors and these results are compared with previous Voigt-averaged estimates. The second-order polycrystalline dispersion relation for the self-consistent scheme is found for cases of low and high crystallite anisotropy. The attenuation coefficients and dispersion relations derived through the self-consistent scheme are considerably different than previous estimates. Experimentally measured longitudinal attenuation coefficients support the use of the self-consistent scheme for estimation of attenuation.     

Dispersion in oceanic crust during earthquake preparation

Dispersion of Stoneley waves is studied in a sedimentary layer of ocean bottom resting over basaltic solid half space. Sedimentary layer is assumed a transversely isotropic poroelastic medium. Lower-most solid half-space is assumed to be embedded with vertically aligned saturated micro-cracks and behaves transversely isotropic to wave propagation.Frequency equation is obtained in the form of determinantal equation. Role of phase angle is eliminated by expressing slowness of waves in terms of phase velocity and elastic constants. Numerical solutions for phase velocity and group velocity are obtained for a particular model. Calculations are made for different depths of ocean and sediments. Effect of thickness and density of cracks on these velocities are observed.Special cases are discussed which represent the absence of ocean and sediments, in the model considered. Changes in dispersion are discussed during the stress accumulation in an earthquake preparation region.     

The effective thermoelectroelastic properties of microinhomogeneous materials

The paper is concerned with composite materials which consist of a homogeneous matrix phase with a set of inclusions uniformly distributed in the matrix. The components of these materials are considered to be ideally elastic and exhibit piezoelectric properties. One of the variants of the self-consistent scheme, the Effective Field Method (EFM) is applied to calculate effective dielectric, piezoelectric and thermoelastic properties of such materials, taking into account the coupled electroelastic effects. At first the coupled thermoelectroelastic problem for a homogeneous medium with an isolated inclusion is solved. For an ellipsoidal inclusion and constant external field the solution of this problem is found in a closed analytic form. This solution is then used in the EFM to derive the effective thermoelectroelastic operator for the composite containing a random array of ellipsoidal inclusions. Explicit formulae for the electrothermoelastic constants are given for composites, reinforced by spheroidal inclusions.     

Revisiting displacement functions in three-dimensional elasticity of inhomogeneous media

The paper presents a three-dimensional solution to the equilibrium equations for linear elastic transversely isotropic inhomogeneous media. We assume that the material has constant Poisson’s ratios, and its Young’s and shear moduli have the same functional form of dependence on the co-ordinate normal to the plane of isotropy. We show, apparently for the first time, that stresses and displacements in such an inhomogeneous transversely isotropic elastic solid can be represented in terms of two displacement functions which satisfy the second- and fourth-order partial differential equations. We examine and discuss key aspects of the new representation; they include the relationship between the new displacement functions and Plevako’s solution for isotropic inhomogeneous material with constant Poisson’s ratio as well as the application of the new representation to some important classes of three-dimensional elasticity problems. As an example, the displacement function is derived that can be used to determine stresses and displacements in an inhomogeneous transversely isotropic half-space which is subjected to a concentrated force normal to a free surface and applied at the origin (Boussinesq’s problem).     

Stress Concentration at Interacting Spherical Inclusions in a Transversely Isotropic Body

An elastic-equilibrium problem is rigorously solved for a transversely isotropic body containing a finite number of arbitrarily arranged and oriented transversely isotropic spherical inclusions or an infinite periodic array of such inclusions. The solution is found based on the superposition principle for general solutions of single-particle problems and the addition theorems for partial vector solutions of the elastic equilibrium equations. The numerical results presented allow assessing the influence of matrix anisotropy on the stress concentration between inclusions     

The effective medium and the average field approximations vis-à-vis the Hashin-Shtrikman bounds. I. The self-consistent scheme in matrix-based composites

The effective medium approximation (EMA) and the average field approximation (AFA) are two classical micromechanics models for the determination of effective properties of heterogeneous media. They are also known in the literature as ‘self-consistent’ approximations. In the AFA, the basic idea is to estimate the actual average field existing in a phase through a configuration in which a typical particle of that phase is embedded in the homogenized medium. In the EMA, on the other hand, one or more representative microstructural elements of the composite is embedded in the homogenized effective medium subjected to a uniform field, and the demand is made that the dominant part of the far-field disturbance vanishes. Both parts of this study are concerned with two-phase, matrix-based, effectively isotropic composites with an inclusion phase consisting of randomly oriented particles of arbitrary shape in general, and ellipsoidal shape in particular. The constituent phases are assumed to be isotropic. It is shown that in those systems the AFA and EMA give different predictions, with the distinction between them becoming especially striking regarding their standing vis-à-vis the Hashin-Shtrikman (HS-bounds). While due to its realizability property the EMA will always obey the bounds, we show that there are circumstances in which the AFA may violate the bounds. In the AFA for two-phase matrix-based composites, the embedded inclusion is a particle of the inclusion phase. If the particle is directly embedded in the effective medium, the method is called here the self-consistent scheme-average field approximation (SCS-AFA), and will obey the HS-bounds for an inclusion shape that is simply connected. If the embedded entity is a matrix-coated particle, then the method is called the generalized self-consistent scheme-average field approximation (GSCS-AFA), and may violate the HS-bounds. On the other hand, in the EMA for matrix-based composites with well-separated inclusions, we indicate that in view of its premises the embedding with a matrix-coated particle generally becomes the appropriate one, and the method is thus called the generalized self-consistent scheme-effective medium approximation (GSCS-EMA). Part I of this study is concerned with SCS-AFA in dielectrics and elasticity, and Part II with the GSCS-AFA and GSCS-EMA in dielectrics.     

Stress in elastic plates reinforced by fibres lying in concentric circles

We Consider fibre-reinforced elastic plates with the reinforcement continuously distributed in concentric circles ; such a material is locally transversely isotropic, with the circumferential direction as the preferred direction. For an annulus bounded by concentric circles, the exact solution of the traction boundary value problem is obtained. When the extension modulus in the fibre direction is large compared to other extension and shear moduli, the material is strongly anisotropic. For this case a simpler approximate solution is obtained by treating the material as inextensible in the fibre direction. It is shown that the exact solution reduces to the inextensible solution in the appropriate limit. The inextensible theory predicts the occurrence of stress concentration layers in which the direct stress is infinite ; for materials with small but finite extensibility these layers correspond to thin regions of high stress and high stress gradient. A boundary layer theory is developed for these regions. For a typical carbon fibre-resin composite, the combined boundary layer and inextensible solutions give an excellent approximation to the exact solution. The theory is applied to the problem of an isotropic plate, under uniform stress at infinity, containing a circular hole which is strengthened by the addition of an annulus of fibre-reinforced material.     

Bounds for effective elastic moduli of inhomogeneous solid bodies

In connection with the extensive use of various kinds of inhomogeneous materials (glass, carbon and boron reinforced plastics, cermets, concrete, reinforced materials, etc.) in technology, there arises a need to calculate the elastic properties of such systems. Here in each case it is necessary to work out specific methods for finding both elastic fields and effective moduli. Since, as a rule, such methods do not take into account the character of distribution of inhomogeneities in space, which is reflected on the form of the central moment functions [1], they can be referred to a single class and, consequently, can be obtained by a common method [2], In the given paper, by means of the method of solution of stochastic problems for microinhomogeneous solid bodies proposed in the work of the author [2], we find elastic fields and effective moduli in an arbitrary approximation. Depending on the choice of parameters, the latter form bounds within which there lie the exact values of the effective moduli. It is shown that the conditions used earlier for finding these parameters [3] are not the best ones. The effective elastic moduli of an inhomogeneous medium are calculated, and bounds, narrower than the bounds formed in [3], are found for them.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Mekhaniki i Tekhniki, No. 5, pp. 144–150, September–October, 1973.     

Static equilibrium of an elastic orthotropic medium with an arbitrarily oriented triaxial ellipsoidal inclusion

The stress state of an elastic orthotropic medium with an arbitrarily oriented triaxial ellipsoidal inclusion is analyzed. A solution is obtained using the triple Fourier transform and the Fourier-transformed Green’s function for an infinite anisotropic medium. The high efficiency of the approach is demonstrated by solving the problem for a transversely isotropic material with a spheroidal cavity for which the exact solution is known. A numerical analysis is conducted to study the stress distribution over the surface of the inclusion with different orientations in the orthotropic space. It is revealed that in some cases the orientation of the inclusion has a strong effect on the stress concentration __________ Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 43, No. 4, pp. 55–61, April 2007.     

Stress concentrations in the particulate composite with transversely isotropic phases

The accurate series solution have been obtained of the elasticity theory problem for a transversely isotropic solid containing a finite or infinite periodic array of anisotropic spherical inclusions. The method of solution has been developed based on the multipole expansion technique. The basic idea of method consists in expansion the displacement vector into a series over the set of vectorial functions satisfying the governing equations of elastic equilibrium. The re-expansion formulae derived for these functions provide exact satisfaction of the interfacial boundary conditions. As a result, the primary spatial boundary-value problem is reduced to an infinite set of linear algebraic equations. The method has been applied systematically to solve for three models of composite, namely a single inclusion, a finite array of inclusions and an infinite periodic array of inclusions, respectively, embedded in a transversely isotropic solid. The numerical results are presented demonstrating that elastic properties mismatch, anisotropy degree, orientation of the anisotropy axes and interactions between the inclusions can produce significant local stress concentration and, thus, affect greatly the overall elastic behavior of composite.     

Use of a Downscaling Procedure for Macroscopic Heat Source Modeling in Porous Media

Many porous media such as rocks have mesoscale inhomogeneities. The characteristic sizes of such inhomogeneities are much larger than the pore size but much less than the characteristic scale of the problem, such as the length of the sample on which measurements are taken. In this paper, we have solved the one-particle problem for depolarization of an ellipsoidal particle located in a porous medium with electrokinetic effect. To calculate the effective physical properties of a porous medium with many ellipsoidal inclusions, we have applied the effective field method. The application of this method allows us to take into account the texture of an inhomogeneous medium. The analysis performed has shown that three effective properties of inhomogeneous media (permeability, electroosmotic coupling coefficient and electrical conductivity) are not completely independent variables. General theory is illustrated by calculations of the effective properties of media containing spherical and spheroidal inclusions.