On the Homogenization Analysis of Electromagnetic Properties for Irregular Honeycombs

Honeycombs are widely used in aerospace structures due to their low density and high specific strength. In this paper, effective electromagnetic properties of irregular honeycombs are investigated, by using the three dimensional homogenization theory and corresponding computational procedure. This homogenization method, being the extension of two-scale asymptotic approach, is employed to determine the expressions of the effective dielectric permittivity, magnetic permeability and electrical conductivity. To verify and validate the proposed model and procedure, effective permittivities of a typical irregular honeycomb are studied and compared with those of semi-empirical formulae. Moreover, the effect of geometry of honeycomb's unit cell on effective permittivities is also examined. Compared to semi-empirical estimations, the two-scale asymptotic homogenization method can be used to achieve more accurate results of effective electromagnetic properties for honeycombs in the scope of numerical modeling, and it can be also extended for estimation of effective electromagnetic tensors for various periodic composites.