A coupled multi-scale approach for the simulation of textile membranes

Abstract

The presented work deals with the simulation of problems related to dry fabric materials. Especially draping over double curved molds is a huge field for industrial simulation methods. Although industrial solutions are available, there are still many open issues. The main reason for these issues is the fact that the mechanical behavior of dry fabric layers is not describable with a standard continuum mechanical approach because the fabric is not a continuum. The idea of the approach presented here is to model the inner structure of the fabric with a unit cell consisting of crossed beams and to couple this inner structure with a macroscopic membrane element (coupled multi-scale approach).