Effective longitudinal shear moduli of random composites comprising radially-graded fibres

The homogenization problem for random composites comprising radially-graded fibres is dealt with, in the framework of antiplane shear deformations, by generalizing the Rayleigh multipole expansion method. The statistics of the effective moduli are obtained in simulation. The feasibility of reducing the shear stress at the fibre/matrix interface by properly grading the fibre stiffness along the radius is proved