title: Boundary effects on effective conductivity of random heterogeneous media with spherical inclusions.
abstract: It is common to determine the effective conductivity of heterogeneous media by assuming stationarity of the random local properties. This assumption is not obeyed in a boundary layer of a body of finite size. The effect of different types of boundaries is examined for a two-phase medium with spherical inclusions of given conductivity distributed randomly in a matrix of a different conductivity. Exact solutions are derived for the apparent conductivity and the boundary layer thickness. The interaction between the spheres and the boundaries is fully incorporated in the solutions using a spherical harmonics expansion and the method of images. As applications, the corrections for the effective conductivity are given for two cases of finite bodies: the Maxwell sphere and a cylinder of flow parallel to the axis.
authors.affiliation: School of Mechanical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rabinovich
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dagan
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miloh