Approximate model for wave propagation in piezoelectric materials. II. Fibrous composites

A continuum mixture theory with microstructure is developed for guided wave propagation in unidirectional fibrous composites of piezoelectric materials exhibiting hexagonal symmetry. The theory leads to the simple system of coupled equations for the actual composites which retain the integrity of the propagation process in each constituent but allow them to coexist under analytically derived interaction parameters. As a consequence of the analysis, effective mixture properties of the composite are obtained in the zero-frequency (static) limit. The utility of the resulting equations is demonstrated by studying the propagation of harmonic waves in the system.