An effective inclusion model for effective moduli of heterogeneous materials with ellipsoidal inhomogeneities. (Q5939111)

The authors present an effective inclusion model for effective moduli of heterogeneous materials with ellipsoidal inhomogeneities. For that, they assume that the strain energy changes of the infinite matrix due to the embeding of representative volume element (RVE) and its effective inclusion into the matrix are identical. A system of equations relating the effective moduli is then formulated using a new energy balance equation that interrelates effective moduli to a problem of an infinite matrix containing \(N\) inhomogeneities in an ellipsoidal subregion. The effect of the shapes of RVE's on the approximate solution is also discussed in detail. As a further application of their formulation, the authors propose numerical models for effective moduli of solids with cracks and heterogeneous materials with spherical inhomogeneities, which account for the interaction among cracks or spherical inhomogeneities. The authors compare their numerical results with existing micromechanical experiments.