Numerical analysis of competitive swimwear using finite element method

Abstract

The purpose of this study is development of a new design method for competitive swimwear by numerical simulation. Biaxial tensile loading tests were conducted to obtain the mechanical characteristics of competitive swimwear. The fabrics of competitive swimwear consist of chemical fiber. Therefore, the fabrics show anisotropic characteristics that depend on the fiber orientation angle. From biaxial tensile loading test results, the fabric has orthotropy and the stiffness of the fabric shows the graph like the two polygonal lines along with the increase of stretch. An anisotropic hyperelastic model was applied to the reproduction of mechanical characteristics of swimwear. The anisotropic hyperelastic model in this paper is able to adjust the axial and shear stiffness individually. The material parameters of the anisotropic hyperelastic model for the finite element simulation were determined from biaxial tensile loading test results. And then, finite element simulation of tensile loading tests was conducted to show the applicability of our design method to competitive swimwear. In finite element analysis, the bias of deformation and stress distribution by the anisotropy were reproduced. It is important to design the pressure given by stretch of competitive swimwear from the two viewpoints, the exercise performance and the burden to the heart function. We estimated the pressure caused by wearing competitive swimwear against the human body using a simple cylinder model.