Investigation of physical models accuracy optimized by PSO for determining low-velocity impact behavior of warp-knitted spacer fabrics

Abstract

Nowadays, warp-knitted spacer fabrics (WKSFs) have been developed for many applications. Impact response and energy absorption are important properties of WKSFs in protective applications. In this study, low-velocity impact (LVI) behavior of WKSFs was investigated. In this regard, physical models with maximum adoption to the behavior of WKSFs in LVI were determined. In the first step, LVI behavior of WKSFs was investigated using a high-speed camera. Then, the LVI response of WKSFs was assessed using three common physical models, i.e. Kelvin–Voigt, Maxwell, and standard linear models. In order to achieve the best adoption with WKSFs behavior in LVI, particle swarm optimization was applied to optimize the parameters of each model. The results showed that Kelvin–Voigt model had the highest accuracy with a root mean square error (RMSE) of 2.3%.