On Multiple Inhomogeneities in Plane Elasticity

In this paper we present some new analytical techniques which have been recently developed to solve for problems of circular elastic inhomogeneities in anti-plane and plane elasticity. The inhomogeneities may be composed of different materials and have different radii. The matrix may be subjected to arbitrary loadings or singularities. The solution to this heterogeneous problem is sought as a transformation performed on the solution of the corresponding homogeneous problem, i.e., the problem when all the inhomogeneities are removed and the homogeneous matrix is subjected to the same loading/singularities, a procedure which has been dubbed ‘heterogenization’. In previous works, a single inhomogeneity or hole has been considered and the transformation has been shown to be purely algebraic in the antiplane case and involves differentiation of the Kolosov-Mushkelishvili complex potentials in the plane case. Universal formulas, i.e., formulas which are independent of the loading/singularities, that express the stresses at the inter-face of the inhomogeneity in terms of the stresses that would have existed at the same interface had the inhomogeneity been absent, have been be derived. The solution for a single inhomogeneity bonded to a matrix which is subjected to arbitrary loading/singularities can then in principle be used systematically in a Schwarz alternating method to obtain the solution for multiple inhomogeneities to any degree of accuracy. However alternative and innovative methods have been sought which lead to a much faster convergence and in some cases to exact expressions in terms of infinite series. The aim of this paper is to present some of the progress that has been made in this direction.