Effective dielectric constant of periodic composite materials

We present computer simulation data for the effective permittivity (in the quasistatic limit) of a system composed of discrete inhomogeneities of permittivity epsilon(1), embedded in a three-dimensional homogeneous matrix of permittivity epsilon(2). The primary purpose of this paper is to study the related issue of the effect of the geometric shape of the components on the dielectric properties of the medium. The secondary purpose is to analyse how the spatial arrangement in these two-phase materials affects the effective permittivity. The structures considered are periodic lattices of inhomogeneties. The numerical method proceeds by an algorithm based upon the resolution of boundary integral equations. Finally, we compare the prediction of our numerical simulation with the effective medium approach and with results of previous analytical works and numerical experiments. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.