A New Method for Designing Sportswear by Using Three Dimensional Computer Graphic Based Anisotropic Hyperelastic Models and Musculoskeletal Simulations

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a new method for designing compression sportswear from the viewpoint of force by simulation. Applied simulation techniques are 1) skin strain simulation, 2) fabric strain simulation using the anisotropic hyperelastic model, and 3) musculoskeletal simulation. For skin strain simulations, a three dimensional computer graphic (3D-CG) polygon strain was calculated as a skin strain using a 3D-CG model that simulates the human body (CG-Human-Model). The initial strain and the strain caused by physical exercise were given to the polygon model representing the shape of the sportswear (CG-Sportswear-Model). For compression sportswear, the strain of the fabric is approximately the same as skin strain, thus the strain of the CG-Human-Model was given to the CG-Sportswear-Model. In-plane and out-of-plane forces resulting from the CG-Sportswear-Model are calculated using anisotropic hyperelastic models. These forces were given to the musculoskeletal simulation as the external forces, and muscle activity required for any given physical exercise (e.g. swimming motion) was calculated. Information of forces and muscle activity are very useful in designing compression sportswear. It is believed that this new method for designing compression sportswear based on simulation is a sophisticated technique because this method takes into account not only forces resulting from sportswear but also the effect of these forces on physical exercise.