Elastic fields generated by inhomogeneities: Far-field asymptotics, its shape dependence and relation to the effective elastic properties

We discuss connections between the effective elastic properties of a solid with inhomogeneities and the far-field asymptotics of the elastic fields generated by them. We focus on the dependence of the far-field asymptotics on the inhomogeneity shape. This shape dependence in the inhomogeneity problem is in contrast with shape independence of the far field in the eigenstrain problem. For the latter, the far field applies to inclusions of any shape. We show that the external fields in the eigenstrain – and the inhomogeneity problems are interrelated by the same tensor that characterizes the compliance contribution of an inhomogeneity.