EFFECTIVE STIFFNESS TENSOR OF COMPOSITE MEDIA - II - APPLICATIONS TO ISOTROPIC DISPERSIONS

Accurate approximate relations for the effective elastic moduli of two - and three-dimensional isotropic dispersions are obtained by truncati ng, after third-order terms, an exact series expansion for the effecti ve stiffness tensor of d-dimensional two-phase composites (obtained in the first paper) that perturbs about certain optimal dispersions. Our third-order approximations of the effective bulk modulus K-e and shea r modulus G(e) are compared to benchmark data, rigorous bounds and pop ular self-consistent approximations for a variety of macroscopically i sotropic dispersions in both two and three dimensions, for a wide rang e of phase moduli and volume fractions. Generally, for the cases consi dered, the third-order approximations are in very good agreement with benchmark data, always lie within rigorous bounds, and are superior to popular self-consistent approximations. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd . All rights reserved.