The book is dedicated to the application of self-consistent methods to the solution of static and dynamic problems of the mechanics and physics of composite materials. The effective elastic, electric, dielectric, thermo-conductive and other properties of composite materials reinforced by ellipsoidal, spherical multi-layered inclusions, thin hard and soft inclusions, short fibers and unidirected multi-layered fibers are considered. Explicit formulas and efficient computational algorithms for the calculation of the effective properties of the composites are presented and analyzed. The method of the effective medium and the method of the effective field are developed for the calculation of the phase velocities and attenuation of the mean (coherent) wave fields propagating in the composites. The predictions of the methods are compared with experimental data and exact solutions for the composites with periodical microstructures. The book may be useful for material engineers creating new composite materials and scholars who work on the theory of composite and non-homogeneous media.

Zusammenfassung
The theory of heterogeneous materials has been intensively developed during the past few decades. The main reason for the interest of many researchers in this part of the mechanics of solids is the wide area of application of hete- geneous materials in modern material engineering. Self-consistent methods form a well-known branch of the theory of heterogeneous materials. In most books devoted to the mechanics and physics of heterogeneous media, the reader can ?nd self-consistent solutions. But there are no books covering the entire spectrum of self-consistent methods in application to the calculation of static and dynamic properties of heterogeneous materials. This book has been written to cover this gap. It is written for engineers because here they can ?nd the equations for the e?ective properties of composites reinforced with various types of inclusions. The main advantage of self-consistent methods is that they give relatively simple equations for the e?ective parameters of composites. Such equations for static and dynamic properties of matrix composites reinforced with va- oustypesofinclusions,forporousmedia,mediawithcracksandotherdefects, for polycrystals, etc., are widely used in engineering practice, and many new self-consistent solutions are presented in the book. This book is written also for scholars who wish to develop the theory of heterogenousmedia.Inthebooktheywill ?ndthebasicideasandalgorithms for the construction of self-consistent solutions. The book shows how these methods may be applied to composites with inclusions of complex structures, toproblemsofwavepropagation,forcalculationofhigherstatisticalmoments of physical ?elds in composites. Various ways for improving self-consistent solutions are proposed and discussed.

Inhalt
An elastic medium with sources of external and internal stresses.- Equilibrium of a homogeneous elastic medium with an isolated inclusion.- Thin inclusion in a homogeneous elastic medium.- Hard fiber in a homogeneous elastic medium.- Termal and electric fields in a medium with an isolated inclusion.- Homogeneous elastic medium with a set of isolated inclusions.- Multiparticle interactions in composites.- Thermo- and electroconductive properties of composites.