The dynamics of fabric drape

Abstract

The buckling behaviour of engineering materials has been researched extensively since the 1890s and more recently, thin shell theory has generalised the analysis to include complicated boundary conditions. However, the approximations and assumptions which form the basis of engineering models make them inappropriate for textile materials. Very small stresses on textile materials cause extremely large strains so that the deformations are highly nonlinear. In this paper, we develop a nonlinear mathematical method. In the final section, the nonlinear differential equations used are generalised into a nonlinear evolution equation which is completely integrable and thus solved analytically obtaining dynamical solution for three‐dimensional fabric drape. These analytical solutions are applicable under all conditions and are not subject to computational difficulties associated with finding numerical solutions for highly nonlinear problems. The use of this analytical approach to fabric mechanics and dynamics provides us with a very powerful tool to formulate and solve many long‐standing problems in fabric and clothing technology.

Citation

Postle, R. and Rebecca Postle, J. (1998), "The dynamics of fabric drape", International Journal of Clothing Science and Technology, Vol. 10 No. 3/4, pp. 305-312. https://doi.org/10.1108/09556229810222043