On the uniform stress state inside an inclusion of arbitrary shape in a three-phase composite

The stress field inside a two-dimensional arbitrary-shape elastic inclusion bonded through an interphase layer to an infinite elastic matrix subjected to uniform stresses at infinity is analytically studied using the complex variable method in elasticity. Both in-plane and anti-plane shear loading cases are considered. It is shown that the stress field within the inclusion can be uniform and hydrostatic under remote constant in-plane stresses and can be uniform under remote constant anti-plane shear stresses. Both of these uniform stress states can be achieved when the shape of the inclusion, the elastic properties of each phase, and the thickness of the interphase layer are properly designed. Possible non-elliptical shapes of inclusions with uniform hydrostatic stresses induced by in-plane loading are identified and divided into three groups. For each group, two conditions that ensure a uniform hydrostatic stress state are obtained. One condition relates the thickness of the interphase layer to elastic properties of the composite phases, while the other links the remote stresses to geometrical and material parameters of the three-phase composite. Similar conditions are analytically obtained for enabling a uniform stress state inside an arbitrary-shape inclusion in a three-phase composite loaded by remote uniform anti-plane shear stresses.