Tensorial Representation of the Effective Elastic Properties of the Damaged Material

New representations of the effective elastic stiffness and compliance ten sors are derived using an appropriate fourth order tensor basis. This paper considers some of the typical crack distributions associated with an initially isotropic matrix and propor tional loading. Resulting isotropic and transversely isotropic responses of the damaged material are described, neglecting direct interaction between adjacent cracks. Derived ten sor representations enable easy manipulations and are particularly convenient in obtaining explicit expressions for the inverse operators.