11—AN ENERGY METHOD FOR CALCULATIONS IN FABRIC MECHANICS PART I: PRINCIPLES OF THE METHOD

Abstract

An energy method for calculations in fabric mechanics is described. The aim behind the development of this method was to find an approach that could be applied in a uniform manner to a variety of fabric structures and types of deformation. In the first part of the paper, the principle of the method is described for the simplest case: that in which the fabric structure acts only as a load-bearing mechanism, whose changes in internal energy during deformation are negligible compared with changes in potential energy due to externally applied loads. In the second part, the method is extended to include the effects of strain energy in the component fibres and yarns.