A novel method based on the Virtual Particle Mori–Tanaka (VPMT) is developed to predict the effective electro-elastic properties, d33 and g33, of structured piezoelectric particulate composites with improved accuracy by means of a single parameter related to the spatial distribution of imperfectly aligned rod-like PZT particles. The VPMT method is found to have excellent prediction capabilities for idealized particle configurations. Several new correction functions are presented to capture the drop in piezoelectric composite’s electro-elastic properties as a function of topological imperfections. These imperfections are related to longitudinal and lateral inter-particle spacings and the topology of the chain like structures themselves. The functions are evaluated in detail and show physically consistent behaviour.@en