NUMERICAL ESTIMATION OF THE EFFECTIVE CONDUCTIVITY OF HETEROGENEOUS MEDIA WITH A 2D CELLULAR-AUTOMATON FLUID

A 2D cellular automaton fluid is used to estimate the effective transp ort properties of macroscopically homogeneous and isotropic two-phase mixtures. The method is applied to the determination of the electrical conductivity of two-phases agregates. The effective conductivity is c alculated as a function of the relative concentration and for differen t values of the conductivity ratio between the constituting phases. Nu merical results agree well with theoretical bounds in the case of alte rnating layers parallel or perpendicular to the direction of flow. For random isotropic distribution of the inclusion phase, the conductivit y estimated by the cellular automaton falls between the theoretical Ha shin-Shtrikman (H-S) bounds. The results presented are very close to e xperimental data, such as conductivity measurements on Al-Bi mixtures.