Application of dynamic recursive splitting to estimate fibre entanglement in simulated nonwoven fibrous assemblies

Fibrous nonwovens comprise of fibres or filaments bonded by various methods. Depending on the mode of fabric formation these fibres may be entangled; this affects the physical properties of the bulk structure. Estimating the degree of entanglement based on relative fibre arrangement in such structures is highly challenging. In this paper, fibre-to-fibre interactions within simulated fibrous assemblies are analysed using topological and geometrical principles as a means to quantify entanglement. The underlying theoretical framework in which splitting number is used to characterise entanglement has been previously described [1]. A detailed algorithm and its practical application for the estimation of fibre entanglement are reported based on Dynamic Recursive Splitting (DYRES).