Numerical Simulation of 3D Dynamic Garment Pressure

Abstract

This paper presents a mechanical model for numerical simulations of 3D dynamic garment pressure during wear using a finite element method. Based on analyzing the contact characteristics between the human body and the garment, a mechanical model is developed based on the theory of dynamic contact mechanics. The garment is regarded as an elastic shell of geometric nonlinearity and the human body is assumed to be rigid. The contact between body and garment is modeled as a dynamic sliding interface. A series of examples is presented to illustrate the simulation results of the computational model using commercial finite element software: a female human model wearing a set of perfectly fitting sportswear. The garments have the same style but are made from different materials: a cotton denim fabric and a knitted nylon fabric. Compared with values of measured garment pressure reported in the literature, the predicted pressure is close to the magnitude of experimental measurements, indicating that the model is able to simulate garment pressure during wear with reasonable accuracy. The computational model can simulate and predict the dynamic mechanical behavior of garments during wear, such as garment deformation, pressure, and internal stresses, without actually producing the garment.