Iteration method in linear elasticity of random structure composites containing heterogeneities of noncanonical shape

We consider a linearly elastic composite medium, which consists of a homogeneous matrix containing a statistically inhomogeneous random set of heterogeneities of arbitrary shape. The general integral equations connecting the stress and strain fields in the point being considered with the stress and strain fields in the surrounding points are obtained for the random fields of heterogeneities. The method is based on a recently developed centering procedure where the notion of a perturbator is introduced and statistical averages are obtained without any auxiliary assumptions such as, e.g., effective field hypothesis implicitly exploited in the known centering methods. Effective elastic moduli and the first statistical moments of stresses in the heterogeneities are estimated for statistically homogeneous composites with the general case of both the shape and inhomogeneity of the heterogeneities moduli. The explicit new representations of the effective moduli and stress concentration factors are built by the iteration method in the framework of the quasicristallite approximation but without basic hypotheses of classical micromechanics such as both the EFH and "ellipsoidal symmetry" assumption. Numerical results are obtained for some model statistically homogeneous composites reinforced by aligned identical homogeneous heterogeneities of noncanonical shape. Some new effects are detected that are impossible in the framework of a classical background of micromechanics. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.