Numerical evaluation of effective dielectric properties of three-dimensional composite materials with arbitrary inclusions using a finite-difference time-domain method

In this article, we introduce a numerical procedure to evaluate effective dielectric properties of arbitrary multicomponent three-dimensional mixtures. Recognizing that many mixtures have periodic extend in all directions, we only need to analyze a unit element for effective electrical properties extraction. The numerical technique used here is a finite-difference time-domain method with a periodic boundary condition that generalizes many boundary conditions used in previous works. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. Using this developed procedure, we study the effects of frequency, inclusion shapes, inclusion volume, and inclusion conductivity on mixture's electrical properties. It is observed that these parameters can significantly change the electrical properties of mixtures.