Characterization of the mechanical behaviors of solid-fluid mixture by the homogenization method

The mechanical behaviors of a solid-fluid mixture are characterized by using the homogenization method which is based on the method of asymptotic expansions. According to the choice of the so-called effective parameters, the formal derivation yields two distinct systems of well-known macromechanical governing equations; one for poroelasticity and the other for viscoelasticity. The homogenized equations representing the asymptotic behaviors entail the locally defined field equations and the geometry of a repeating unit. In addition to the identities of both formulations with ones in classical mechanics, the formulation enables the evaluation of actual mechanical responses of microstructures. This distinctive feature of the homogenization method is called the localization, which must be a key capability that provides a bridge between micromechanics and macromechanics. Thus, the present developments and several numerical simulations will provide insight into a variety of engineering problems in regard to solid-fluid coupled systems.