Direct stress–strain representation for coated woven fabrics

An understanding of the complex behaviour of coated woven fabrics is vital for the design of state-of-the-art fabric structures. Fabric behaviour is typically defined using elastic constants based on plane stress assumptions. This paper considers two new methods of representing fabric response: (i) use of spline functions to define response surfaces, (ii) use of stress–strain mean and difference functions (proposed by Day [IASS symposium proceedings: shells, membranes and space frames 2 (1986) 17]. Both techniques provide direct correlation between stresses and strains, eliminating the assumption of plane stress. Extensive biaxial fabric testing is proposed to assess the validity of these approaches and extend their use.