Homtools can be used to estimate the average mechanical response of a heterogeneous material by the way of Finite Element Analysis on a Representative Volume Element (RVE). It allows to compute the relationship between the average stress and the average strain, according to three different methods of localization: kinematic uniform boundary conditions (KUBC), periodic boundary conditions (PBC) and static uniform boundary conditions (SUBC). For all these methods, the average loading can be either the average stress or the average strain (or an independent combination of average strains and stresses components). The constitutive materials of the RVE can be either linear or non-linear and the analysis can be in small or finite-strain. The presence of interaction properties (such as contact and friction) is naturally taken into account.

Homtools can be used to estimate the average mechanical response of heterogeneous periodic beams or plates by the way of Finite Element Analysis on the 3D periodicity cell. It allows to compute the relationship between the average generalized stresses (normal stress, bending moments, twisting moment...) and the average generalized strains (normal strain, bending curvatures...). It can be used for example to estimate the effective inertia of the equivalent homogeneous beam in the linear elasticity framework. Nevertheless, the constitutive materials of the periodicity cell can be non-linear and the presence of interaction properties is naturally taken into account. Homtools can thus help to build a non-linear effective beam or plate model and identify its parameters.