Elastic-plastic homogenization for layered composites

A general method fur the homogenization of rigid plastic or elastic-plastic layered structures is proposed. This method is based on a hybrid formulati on of the constitutive equation for each phase, thus reducing the homogeniz ation procedure to a simple mixture law. This non-classical hybrid formulat ion is obtained for both the rigid-plastic and elastic-plastic models. The resulting homogenized behaviour is then illustrated by some examples with s pecial emphasis on the resulting anisontropy and in particular on the off-a xis tensile behaviour. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevie r SAS.