On a family of quasi-isotropic fiber-reinforced composites (Q1202368)

A particular class of transversely isotropic materials is studied, whose mechanical properties are conveniently selected to reduce the two last eigenstate components in such a manner, that the one is identified to contribute only a dilatational type of strain energy, whereas the other a distortional one. In this way the four eigenstates are clearly separated in two distinct groups creating either distortional or dilatational types of strain energy. It was shown that this family of materials behave like the isotropic body, in spite of their differences in the elastic constants along their principal axes of anisotropy.