PERIODICAL HOMOGENIZATION AND ACTIVE FIBER COMPOSITES

We present a new approach based apt the theory of homogenization in or der to derive the mechanical properties of the constituent materials f or composites consisting of active fibres such as some muscular tissue s. The potential advantage of this approach is that it may allow one t o rigorously take into account the incompressibility condition. A stre ss variational formulation is written using a constitutive law derived from piezoelectric material. This stress formulation is compared to t hat of displacement in the elastic case, and applied to derive the fib re and matrix characteristics of a muscular tissue. (C) Academie des S ciences/Elsevier, Paris.