On micromechanical modeling of particulate composites with inclusions of various shapes

The effective elastic properties of statistically homogeneous two-phase particulate composites are considered. Several first-order micromechanical models are re-written in terms of the inclusion compliance contribution tensor (H-tensor). This tensor is a convenient tool to evaluate contribution of arbitrarily shaped inclusions and cavities to the overall composite properties. For any inclusion shape, the procedure starts with calculation of the H-tensor for a single inclusion. The non-interaction approximation is obtained by direct summation. More advanced micromechanical schemes are derived by substituting the non-interaction inclusion compliance contribution tensor into the formulae provided in the paper. The proposed procedure is illustrated by considering several two-dimensional and three-dimensional examples. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.