EFFICIENT CONSTRUCTION OF EQUAL-AREA FABRIC DIAGRAMS

Fabric analysts are confronted by massive computerization requirements to process and synthesize efficiently the vast volume of accumulating fabric data. The efficient application of the computer to density-contour and plot-fabric data in an equal-area projection is given by the method which presents the most economical, reproducible, and accurate fabric diagram. Optimizing these features requires a new technique which unifies the construction of the fabric diagram completely in terms of the geometry of the reference sphere. In effect the new method determines the fabric diagram on the surface of the reference sphere and projects it, subsequently, onto the meridial plane. Although the procedure is not feasible to perform manually, it can be performed readily by digital computer to yield highly economic, reproducible, and accurate fabric diagrams. A simple computer program of the procedure, as well as an application, illustrate the capabilities of the method. © 1979.