Patent ID: 8126659

Claim:
A method of computing an overall mechanical material constant of a composite material which includes a first material component in a matrix phase, each of mechanical material constants of the first material component and the matrix phase being known, the method comprising: controlling a nonlinear equation setting component of a computer to prepare a nonlinear equation having an overall material constant of a virtual composite material as an unknown by defining the virtual composite material in which the first material component is dispersed in a form of spherical particles in the matrix phase at a known volume fraction; and controlling an equation solver component of the computer to compute the overall material constant of the virtual composite material as an overall material constant of the composite material by solving the prepared nonlinear equation, wherein the nonlinear equation is a recursive nonlinear equation which is obtained by determining, as the overall material constant of the virtual composite material to be computed, a material constant in surrounding areas of the spherical particles in the virtual composite material.