Homogenisation of similarly oriented, metallic, ellipsoidal inclusions using the bilocally approximated strong-property-fluctuation theory

The homogenisation of a two-phase composite medium comprising metallic, ell ipsoidal inclusions embedded in a non-conducting host medium is carried out via the bilocally approximated strong-property-fluctuation theory. Compari son is made against the results obtained via the Bruggeman formalism. The c orrelated actions of neighbouring inclusions result in a considerable mitig ation of the percolation threshold anisotropy due to inclusion shape alone. Furthermore, the choice of covariance function may only have a secondary i nfluence in relation to the effects of the correlation length. (C) 2001 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.