Micromechanical method for effective piezoelectric properties and electromechanical fields in multi-coated long fiber composites

This paper proposes a micromechanical framework for identifying the macroscopic behavior of multicoated long fiber composites, as well as the average electromechanical microscopic fields of all phases (matrix, fibers, coating layers), generated upon known macroscopic conditions. The work aims at developing a unified micromechanical approach that provides an analytical solution standing for non-coated and multi-coated long fiber composites with transversely isotropic piezoelectric behavior. The proposed method solves specific boundary value problems and utilizes the Mori-Tanaka homogenization scheme, in which the dilute strain and electric field concentration tensors are obtained analytically with the help of an extended composite cylinders method that accounts for coupled electromechanical fields. The capabilities of this homogenization strategy are illustrated with the help of numerical examples, and comparisons with known solutions from the literature for non-coated and coated fiber piezoelectric composites are provided. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.