Simulation of heat transfer through woven fabrics based on the fabric geometry model

Abstract

Numerical simulation is a rapid, effective, and low cost method to predict the heat transfer performance of fabrics. However, in previous research fabrics are usually assumed to be a uniform plate. Here, geometry models of 5/3 satin weave, double plain weave, and double twill glass fiber fabrics have been established based on the fabric thickness, yarn path and yarn cross-section shape. In the fabric unit, air occupies 60% to 80% by volume of the fabric unit. Therefore, the air in the fabric unit should be considered in the numerical simulation by finite element analysis. In this work, the fabric unit cells consisted of a yarn domain and an air domain. Based on the fabric unit cell model, the finite element method was used to predict the heat transfer through fabrics. The numerical temperature data are very close to the experiment data for glass fiber fabrics. Prediction results show that the temperature of 5/3 satin fabrics increase more rapidly than the double layer fabrics, and the heating rate of double twill fabric is lower than that for the double plain weave fabric, and they coincide well with the experiment data.