Homogenization for wave propagation in periodic fibre-reinforced media with complex microstructure. I—Theory

The effective elastic properties of periodic fibre-reinforced media with complex microstructure are determined by the method of asymptotic homogenization via a novel solution to the cell problem. The solution scheme is ideally suited to materials with many fibres in the periodic cell. In this first part of the paper we discuss the theory for the most general situation—N arbitrarily anisotropic fibres within the periodic cell. For ease of exposition we then restrict attention to isotropic phases which results in a monoclinic composite material with 13 effective moduli and expressions for each of these are determined. In the second part of this paper we shall discuss results for a variety of specific microstructures.