Buckling of Woven Fabrics

Abstract

The effect of fabric weight is incorporated into a theoretical model based on Gros berg's frictional couple theory for describing the buckling behavior of woven fabrics. Numerical solutions for fabric models with free- and fixed-end conditions are studied using various combinations of weight and friction couple factors. The weight factor is defined as the fabric weight per unit length to bending rigidity times the buckling length cubed. The friction couple factor is defined as the moment required to initiate the deformation in the fabric times the bending length divided by the bending rigidity. Results show that in the initial buckling stage, the buckling force increases as the weight factor increases above the force attributed to the friction couple factor alone. The weight factor and friction couple factor are shown to influence the buckling force linearly, and independently for both end conditions in the initial buckling stage. In the range of large deflection (>60%), increasing the friction couple factor continues to increase the buckling force, but the contribution due to the increment of the weight factor is either negative (free-free ends) or negligible ( fixed-fixed ends).