• Computational Structural Engineering
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.225-232
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• 1997

Material properties of a new composite composed of components with known material properties are usually investigated through experiments. Elastic modulus and Poisson's ratio are measured at various volume fractions of mixed components and utilized as the base information on an analytical model for predicting the mechanical behaviors of a structure constructed by the composite. Elastic material properties of a composite at various volume fractions are numerically estimated by minimizing the error between the static displacements computed from a model for the composite and those computed from a model of homogeneous and isotropic material. A finite element model for a composite is proposed to distribute different types of material components easily into the model depending on the volume fraction. Then, the material properties of a composite filled with solid mircospheres are predicted numerically through a sample study and the estimated results are compared with experimental results and some theoretical equations.