Anisotropic linear elastic properties of fractal-like composites.

In this work, the anisotropic linear elastic properties of two-phase composite materials, made up of square inclusions embedded in a matrix, are investigated. The inclusions present a fractal hierarchical distribution and are supposed to have the same Poisson's ratio as the matrix but a different Young's modulus. The effective elastic moduli of the medium are computed at each fractal iteration by coupling a position-space renormalization-group technique with a finite element analysis. The study allows to obtain and generalize some fundamental properties of fractal composite materials.