Intelligent Evaluation of Fabrics’ Elastic Properties from Simulated Drape Test

In this paper we propose an intelligent method for identifying several mechanical parameters of woven fabric. The mechanical fabric characterization requires several expensive experimental tests. An alternative to overcome this problem is to use an inverse identification based on simulation of drape test using the finite element method combined with a learning artificial neural networks. To do this, a database containing a number of fabrics characterized is developed. This database will be used to train the neural network to predict the mechanical properties of textile material from drape’s properties. In this way, the mechanical properties of fabric will be identified by simulating the drape test. By comparing drape properties obtained numerically with those obtained experimentally; the elastic properties will be adjusted in the numerical model. The process is repeated until there is little difference between the simulated and actual drape. This approach is tested on several cases and the results are convincing for a wide range of fabrics.