A fiber/matrix/composite model with a combined confocal elliptical cylinder unit cell for predicting the effective longitudinal shear modulus

A fiber/matrix/composite model with a combined confocal elliptical cylinder unit cell is proposed for predicting the effective longitudinal shear modulus of fiber reinforced composite materials from the constituent materials. The conformal mapping technique is applied to the model, resulting in closed form solutions which are applicable to extreme types of the inclusion phases (from voids to rigid inclusions), as well as can accommodate a full range of variations in fiber section aspect ratios (from circular fibers to ribbons). A comparison is made with other numerical and experimental results to demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model and the accuracy of the solutions. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved