Homogenization of woven composites for shielding applications: the case of oblique incidence

Abstract

When reinforced with conductive fibers, woven composites can exhibit interesting shielding properties. This paper focuses on their response for obliquely incident plane waves in the high-frequency range (500 MHz to 40 GHz). A two-step homogenization technique is carried out. First, the composite response (shielding effectiveness and reflection coefficient) is computed using a 3D finite element simulation, then the effective properties are estimated by implementing an optimization process to solve the inverse problem. Results show that composites effective properties are independent of the angle of incidence and wave configuration. This suggests that oblique incidence scenarios can be studied by homogenizing the material based on the case of normal incidence.