Asymptotic homogenization of laminated piezocomposite materials (Q1282642)

The objective is to apply the technique of asymptotic homogenization to determine the effective elastic, piezoelectric and dielectric moduli of a laminated piezocomposite medium with a periodic structure. We calculate explicitly overall effective characteristics for three examples of such layered media. For the particular case of a binary layered medium, connected in parallel with transversely isotropic constituents, such formulae transform exactly to the formulae for effective constants known from the literature. Finally, we apply these results to a piezocomposite material and obtain new piezoelectric materials with better global properties for hydrophone applications.