Drape simulation of woven fabric by using the finite-element method

In order to understand better the drape phenomenon of fabrics, a non-linear finite-element code was developed and the three-dimensional drape shapes of a woven fabric were simulated by using the code. The woven fabric was assumed to be an elastic material with orthotropic anisotropy. The fabric was considered as a thin flexible plate under the plane stress condition, and the transverse shear strain was included in the formulation. Since a fabric goes through a large displacement and a large rotation during draping, the drape phenomenon of a fabric is considered as a geometric non-linear phenomenon. The finite-element method was thus formulated based on a total Lagrangian approach. Quadrilateral elements with four nodes were used. In order to avoid the shear-locking phenomenon which is commonly observed in thin-plate analysis, a transverse-shear-strain interpolation method was adopted. The mechanical properties of woven fabrics for drape simulations were measured by using the Kawabata instruments. The drape shapes of a woven wool fabric showed reasonably good agreement with experimental results.