Thermal analysis of conventional and performance plain woven fabrics by finite element method

Abstract

The research reports the development of geometrical models of woven fabric structures and evaluation of fabric thermal properties by using finite element method. A mesoscopic scale modelling approach was used to investigate the effective thermal conductivity and thermal resistance of woven textile structures. Various techniques, including scanning electron microscopy and experimental methods, have been adopted to obtain the actual three-dimensional parameters of the fabrics for finite element analysis. The research revealed that the thermal anisotropy of fibres, fibres material orientation and temperature-dependent thermal conductivity of fibre has a significant impact on the effective thermal conductivity of fabrics because experimental and simulated results were highly correlated with the consideration of above-mentioned factors.