The representative volume element (RVE) of a material microstructure plays an important role in the analysis of heterogeneous materials, such as composites. Effective material properties in a composite material depend on the microstructural concentration and dispersion of different phases in the RVE. In this study, a combination of statistical and computational tools are proposed for identifying the statistically equivalent RVE (SERVE) for an elastic composite with nonuniform dispersion of inclusions. Numerical tests are conducted with various statistical functions of geometry, stresses, and strains to examine the validity of potential alternative definitions of the SERVE. In the first of this two-part article, methods are addressed for undamaged composite microstructures with continuous interfaces between the fiber and the matrix. The sequel article deals with the evolution of SERVE caused by damage due to interfacial debonding.
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