A Constitutive Equation for Fabrics

Abstract

A reasonable microstructural model of fabrics is adopted, and an explicit. constitutive equation for such materials is derived. At infinitesimal strains the bulk stress tensor is directly proportional to the area fraction and the Young modulus of the fiber strands. Anisotropy is a direct consequence of the distribution of fiber strands. Two cases are considered: the completely random distribution, and a regular pattern of fiber strands. In the former case the material is not Hookean, in the sense that normal stresses are generated during a shear deformation; in the latter case material properties are strongly dependent on the pattern distribution itself. © 1980, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.