Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 7481

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Mechanical properties for preliminary design of structures made

from PVC coated fabric
Andrzej Ambroziak , Pawe Kosowski
Department of Structural Mechanics and Bridges Structures, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Gdansk University of Technology, Narutowicza 11/12,
80-233 Gdansk, Poland

h i g h l i g h t s

 The authors show that it is possible to compare directly results of uniaxial and biaxial tensile tests.
 Utilization of uniaxial tests results can lead to similar effects in the FEM calculations as application of biaxial tests.
 We describe laboratory tests necessary for identication of non-linear elastic properties of the coated fabric.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this paper, laboratory tests necessary for the identication of non-linear elastic immediate properties
Received 26 February 2013 of the PVC coated polyester fabric (like AF 9032) are described. The material parameters are specied on
Received in revised form 4 August 2013 the basis of the uniaxial tensile tests in the warp and weft directions as well as on the base of the biaxial
Accepted 29 August 2013
tensile tests. For the identication process techniques based on the least squares method are used. The
Available online 3 October 2013
authors show that it is possible to compare directly the results of uniaxial and biaxial tensile tests and
apply these results for preliminary design of tensile structures made form coated fabrics.
Keywords:
2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Fabric/textiles
Mechanical properties
Mechanical testing

1. Introduction
The subject of the research and laboratory tests is technical wo-
ven fabrics made of polyester bers covered by PVC (polyvinyl-
chloride). Technical woven fabrics (architectural fabrics) are
applied in civil engineering structures for both seasonal and per-
manent constructions. They are often used for wide-span surfaces,
membrane structures, hanging roofs and pneumatic constructions.
Their great functionality lays in low deadweight and the possibility
of covering large surfaces with relatively small number of
supports. These innovative architectural engineering systems
provide designers a variety of aesthetic free and light forms. For
example, the roof of the O2 Arena in London is one of the big-
gest structures of this type in the world. They are also used for
roofs of sport structures like stadiums, the Formula (1) tracks
stands, etc.
Typical technical woven fabric usually consists of two families
of threads the warp and the weft (ll), see Fig. 1. The PVC coated
fabrics have been used and tested from the sixties of previous cen-
Corresponding author. Tel.: +48 601660795.
E-mail addresses: ambrozan@pg.gda.pl (A. Ambroziak), klosow@pg.gda.pl (P.
Kosowski).
tury [1]. Reinhardt [2] gave the experiment results of biaxial and
uniaxial tensile tests for polyester fabrics coated with PVC and con-
cludes that the results of tensile strength in both cases are equal.
Stubbs and Thomas [3] developed a nonlinear elastic constitutive
model for coated fabrics. This model, which accounts for the basic
mechanisms of yarn rotation, yarn extension and coating exten-
sion, was obtained by expressing the equations of equilibrium for
a unit cell of the material in terms of effective continuum stresses
and strains. Argyris et al. [4,5] described the numerical analysis of
membrane structures made of PVC-coated fabrics. In those papers,
the mechanical and numerical modelling of viscoelastic materials
was proposed with the new schemes for integration of the
rheological relations in the time domain. Szostkiewicz-Chatain
and Hamelin [6] presented numerical and experimental stiffness
characterisation methods for polyester plain-woven fabric coated
with PVC and proposed inverse and experimental stiffness identi-
cation methods. Bassett et al. [7] gave a review of the various
experimental approaches used for measuring fabric mechanical
properties. Wei et al. [8] presented tearing behaviour of exible
composites reinforced with woven fabrics. Bigaud et al. [9] pre-
sented a comprehensive investigation on the mechanical proper-
ties of a PVC-coated plain-woven polyester fabric with initial
cracks. Bridgens and Gosling [10] proposed two techniques for

0950-0618/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.08.060
 A. Ambroziak, P. Kosowski / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 7481 75

coated fabric and the type of analysis which has to be made, is always a disputable
warp problem. The authors propose an easy method to express typical properties of the
weft coated fabric in the engineering nite element based design. It is possible to apply
the nite element in the plane stress state with the special substructure suitable to
describe behaviour of the thread families (especially the change of an angle be-
tween the families during deformation). This concept called the dense net model
has been already presented several times (see e.g. [26,27,23]). It is easily applicable
in self-made or commercial nite element codes and can be used with different
types of material description of threads behaviour. In this model, it is assumed that
the fabric forces in the threads families depend on the uniaxial strain in the same
family only (the friction between threads families in this concept is neglected;
therefore inuence of the coating cannot be fully included in such an approach).
Consequently, the threads forces increment of the warp Drn1 or weft direction
Drn2 is calculated from the following equations:

Drn1 F 1 en1  Den1

1
Fig. 1. Base components of technical woven fabric. Drn2 F 2 en2  Den2

where F 1 en1 and F 2 en2 are the uniaxial material functions of the threads and are
aforementioned coated woven fabric behaviour. Ning and Chen
called the longitudinal stiffnesses. For the denition of these functions any type of
[11] described the mechanical performance of exible composites the constitutive equation can be used. They are usually specied on the basis of
reinforced with multiaxial noncrimp fabrics (NCFs). Luo et al. the uniaxial, or in more complex investigation, like e.g. the biaxial laboratory tests.
[12,13] analysed tensile and tearing properties of the PET bber Basing on the geometrical relationship, the threads force rni and strain eni can be
expressed by the stress rx and strains ex components in the plane stress state as
biaxial warp knitted fabrics coated with PVC under uniaxial tensile
follows:
loads. Chen et al. [14] investigated tensile behaviour of PVC-coated
woven fabrics under mono and biaxial loads. Additionally, the 8 9
authors examined and compared two methods used to record e
 
1

0 0 < ex2 >
> =
en n1 2 ex2 Txn ex
strains (the needle extensometer and photograph method) and en2 cos2 a sin a sin a cos a > : >
cx1x2 ;
their inuence on the stressstrain curves. Luo and Hu [15] pre- 8 9 2 3 2
< rx1 >
2
> = 1 cos a  
sented a study on the mechanical properties of PVC-coated bi-axial 7 rn1
rx rx2 6 40
2
sin a 5 Txn T rn
warp knitted fabrics with and without initial cracks under >
: > rn2
sx1 x2 ; 0 sin a cos a
multi-axial tensile loads. Galliot and Luchsinger [16] proposed a
non-linear material model to describe the yarn-parallel behaviour
where a is the actual inclination angle between the threads families during the
of PVC-coated polyester fabric under biaxial tension for two types
deformation process (similar geometrical relationships has been used by Xue et al.
of polyester fabrics. Kosowski et al. [17] gave the nonlinear visco- [28]). The angle between thread families a, changes during deformation and is cal-
elastic description of the PVC-coated textile material in linear and culated according to the current values of stress components rx2 and sx1x2 in the fab-
non-linear approach. Galliot and Luchsinger [18] investigated ric from the relation:
behaviour of coated fabrics by using the shear ramp tests method.
Abot et al. [19] performed an experimental study to determine the rx2
a arc tg : 3
role of woven fabric architecture and its geometrical parameters sx1x2
on the interlaminar shear response of laminated composites. Brid- Consequently, the constitutive relation in the plane stress state of the whole
gens et al. [20] compared results from two biaxial test machines element, expressed by the threads forces, takes the form of:

using nite element analysis. Zhang et al. [21] presented the

mechanical properties of PVC-coated fabrics utilizing the Precon-
traint technology. In accordance with the requirements of the
environment protection, it should be noted that it is possible to
use recovery method (e.g. swelling method [22]) to separate and
re-use waste PVC-coated PET fabrics.
Numerous test types and constitutive models have been pro-
posed to describe the coated woven fabrics behaviour [23]. In prac-
tical engineering applications use of some of these models is
limited due to the large number of material parameters, which
have to be identied or difculties with performance of laboratory
tests. When the analysed structure is non-standard, a special kind
of tests or models must be applied. On the other hand lack of stan-
dards for design of tensile structures made form coated fabrics
causes that different types of tests are developed but comparison
of results of such experiments is difcult. The rules for designers
have to be clear and simple to be applied in commercial engineer-
ing software. In this paper, the authors try to compare results of
uniaxial and biaxial tests results and propose the best way to use
them in the design process.
2. Material model of fabrics dense net model
Many theoretical models, described in previous chapter, have been developed
for description of a coated fabric. Some of them assume that the polymer structure
of fabric possess elastic, nonlinear-elastic [24], viscoelastic [4] or viscoplastic [25]
characteristics. The choice of the model, which is conditioned by the type of a
rxt rxtDt Dr rxtDt Dx  Dex 4
where rxt are the stress components in actual time increment t, rxt-Dt are the stress
components in last increment t  Dt, Dr and Dex are the increments of stress and
strain components between these time increment, Dx is the elasticity matrix which
can be expressed as:
2 2
3
F 1 en1 F 2 en2 cos4 a F 2 en2 sin a cos2 a F 2 en2 sin a cos3 a
6 7
6 F 2 en2 sin2 a cos2 a 4
F 2 en2 sin a
3
F 2 en2 sin a cos a 7
Dx 6
6
7
7 5
3 2
4 F 2 en2 sin a cos3 a F 2 en2 sin a cos a F 2 en2 sin a cos2 a 5
The dense net model has been successfully used in calculation of several hang-
ing roofs e.g. 4000 m2 roof of the Forest Opera in Sopot in Poland ([29,30]) and in
many theoretical investigations on technical fabrics properties ([17,23]).
The standard FEM systems do not support the fabric material models like the
dense net model. Therefore an open system, which enables user to introduce own
code for constitutive description is necessary. From the wide range of available
commercial programs, the computer system MSC.Marc has been selected due to
its ability to introduce user-subroutines. For the introduction of the dense net mod-
el into the MSC.Marc system, the user-dened subroutine HOOKLW [31], which is
prepared for general description of anisotropic elastic materials, has been applied.
The coated fabrics are mainly used for membrane structures modelling which is
impossible in the Marc system using isoparametric four-node membrane elements
(see e.g. [32,33]). As this element uses bilinear functions for displacements interpo-
lation, the strains distribution is constant throughout the element. The analysis can
be made in the total Lagrangian approach with the initial tensile stress stiffness and
the four-point Gaussian integration for calculation of element stiffness. The detailed
description of element can be found in the Element Library MSC.Marc [31] (ele-
ment: quad4 class and 18 type number).
76 A. Ambroziak, P. Kosowski / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 7481

Fig. 4. Biaxial tensile tests stand specimen type A.

Fig. 2. Uniaxial tensile tests stand.

3. Laboratory tensile tests
3.1. Uniaxial tensile tests
The subject of the following investigation is the coated fabric
AF9032 manufactured as polyester threads (PES) and double-sided
coated with PVC. Its specied weight is 1085 g/m2 and average
thicknesses is about tt 0:001 m. The weave angle of the fabric
is a0 = 90. In the laboratory tests the strength-testing machine
Zwick Z020 operated by computer and a video extensometer have
been used. The specimens of the AF9032 fabric have been cut from
the same batch of fabric in the warp and weft direction. For the
uniaxial tensile tests (see Fig. 2) specimens have had the overall
dimensions 50 mm  300 mm with working sizes: 50 mm in
width, grips separation of 200 mm and the extensometer gage
length about 50 mm. The specimens have been subjected to ten-
sion with grip velocity of 100 mm/min according to PN-EN ISO
1421:2001. Tests have been continued up to specimens rapture.
The proper way of collection of the laboratory results is to give
the best approximation of measurable quantity and range in which
this quantity is specied. Hence the obtained results of identica-
tion require appropriate statistical overworking with allowances
for error analysis, see e.g. [34]. Starting form determination of
the arithmetic mean value of certain of stresses or strains  x, de-
ned as
where xi is a value determined from i-test, and N is a number of
tests. Following, the standard error of the mean of the specied
range sx is specied by
q
P
1
N1
xi  x2
sx p : 7
N
Finally, the results of identication in the following chapters
will be presented as  x  sx .
The transformation of the data obtained from the strength ma-
chine (curves displacement-force) to curves strain e stress r (kN/
m) is required. Results obtained from the uniaxial tensile tests
(three specimens for warp and three specimens for weft have been
examined) are presented in Fig. 3. It is worth pointing out that
curves have a very repeatable characteristic and shape; therefore
it is difcult to distinguish each of them in Fig. 3.
3.2. Biaxial tensile tests
In the biaxial tensile tests performed on BIAX Z020 Zwick sys-
tem equipped also with video extensometer (see Fig. 4), the cross
shaped specimens have been applied. The arm width has been
100 mm, therefore on testing area of 100 mm  100 mm the gage
length of about 50 mm in both direction has been indicated, see
Fig. 5. In all tests initial grips separation of 300 mm has been se-
lected. The overall dimensions of the specimen cutting form bath
of fabric have been 400 mm  400 mm. The specimens have been

X
N
xi
x ; 6
N
i1 grip
100
weft

warp
grip

grip
100

100 100 100

100

grip

Fig. 3. Strainstress curves uniaxial tensile tests. Fig. 5. Biaxial cross specimen.
 A. Ambroziak, P. Kosowski / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 7481 77

Table 1
Load rate for different load ratio.

Force ratio Warp direction (kN/m/s) Weft direction (kN/m/s)

1:2 0.50 1
1:4 0.25 1
1:8 0.25 2
1:1 1 1
2:1 1 0.50
4:1 1 0.25
8:1 2 0.25

subjected to tension (constant force rate) in the direction of the

warp and weft threads with different force ratios.
In the literature different force ratios in the warp-weft direc-
tions for coated fabrics investigations can be found. For example, Fig. 7. Strainstress curves comparison of specimen type A and B.

Bridgens and Gosling [10] presented in their paper the results of

the biaxial tests with stress proportion rwarp:rweft of 1:1, 5:1, 1:5.
Table 2
The biaxial tensile tests for assumed strains proportion (this type Results of the UTS comparison of specimen type.
of tests is much more difcult) in the direction of warp and weft
UTSweft (kN/m) UTSwarp (kN/m)
have been also performed. For instance, in [35] the results of the
biaxial tests with strain proportion ewarp:eweft = 2 are given. In the A 86 1 88 2
B 80.7 0.4 80.8 0.4
present study seven stress (force) ratios (rwarp:rweft) 1:1, 1:2, 1:4,
1:8, 2:1, 4:1, 8:1 have been considerate. This range of proportions
covers almost all ratios given in the literature. Tests have been car-
ried on up to the rupture of the specimens with the constant force
rate. Assumed load rates for different force rations in the tests are
collected in Table 1.
In the beginning, the inuence of specimens shape on the
strainstress curve and the value of Ultimate Tensile Strength
(UTS) have been examined. Two types of specimens called A and
B have been chosen and tested in biaxial test stand in 1:1 load ra-
tio. The type A (Fig. 4) is typical cross shaped specimen, while in
the type B arm of the cross have been cut into ve stripes to avoid
inuence of transverse deformation (Fig. 6). The character of the
strainstress curves (see Fig. 7) and the value of UTS for warp
(UTSwarp) and weft (UTSweft), (see Table 2) for the A and B types
of specimens are almost the same. It can be concluded that for
the investigated type of textile fabric, the inuence of the trans-
verse deformation of specimens arms is negligible. Basing on those
Fig. 8. Biaxial tensile tests, 1:1, strainstress curves specimen type A.
results, the A type specimen has been selected for further tests. Re-
sults obtained from biaxial tensile tests for 1:1 load ratio are given
in Fig. 8 (specimen A type).
The comparisons of the results for other force ratios are shown
in Figs. 9 and 10. The repetition of tests results obtained for the
warp and small divergence of tests results for the weft can be ob-
served very well. The reason for this fact is that the warp direction

Fig. 9. Biaxial tensile tests, comparison of different stress ratio (1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:8).

Fig. 6. Biaxial tensile tests specimen type B.
has been assumed as basic for specimens cut. The weft direction is
not always perpendicular to the warp direction (very small
changes in the virgin fabric can be observed). Therefore not always
is there the same number of complete threads in the weft direction
in the cross arm. Following, it should be noted that for the weft and
warp for load ratio 1:2, 2:1, 4:1 results are very similar to those ob-
tained for 1:1 stress ratio. The calculated coefcients of determina-
78 A. Ambroziak, P. Kosowski / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 7481

Fig. 10. Biaxial tensile tests, comparison of different stress ratio (1:1, 2:1, 4:1, 8:1).
Fig. 12. Graphical concept of identication.

Table 3
Coefcient of determination R2.
Table 4
Force ratio Warp Weft Non-linear elastic properties of coated fabric uniaxial tests.
1:2 0.95 >0.99 UTS F [kN/m] e [-]
1:4 0.47 >0.99
1:8 <0.10 0.96 Warp 116 1 1280 15 00.0141 0.0004
2:1 >0.99 >0.99 197 1 0.0141 0.00040.0981 0.0003
4:1 0.98 0.90 1075 5 0.0981 0.00030.174
8:1 >0.99 0.35 Weft 104 2 193 5 00.0323 0.0007
465 15 0.0323 0.00070.060 0.001
105 2 0.060 0.0010.1627 0.0005
880 20 0.1627 0.00050.247

Fig. 11. Biaxial tensile tests (stress ratio 1:1), comparison with uniaxial tensile
results.

tion R2 are given in Table 3. All curves for different load ratios have
been compared to mean stressstrain curves of 1:1 load ratio. Only
Fig. 13. Graphical visualization of identication uniaxial tests.
for the load ratio 1:8 for the warp and for load ratio 8:1 for the weft
signicant differences to 1:1 stress ratio results can be observed.
For the load ratio 1:8 it can be noticed (Fig. 9) that strains for the
warp have negative values. In this type of fabrics when the weft
threads are subjected to high loading in comparison to the warp,
the weft threads straighten and the warp threads become folded.
Therefore, it can be concluded that in the engineering applications,
for this type of fabric, 1:1 stress ratio is representative, as 8:1 stress
ratio (rwarp:rweft) is seldom applied in hanging roof constructions.
Finally, comparison of biaxial stressstrain curves with uniaxial
tensile test results is given, see Fig. 11. It can be ascertain that uni-
axial tensile tests results give a good approximation of the biaxial
stress state for 1:1 load ratio. Therefore nally, for the investigated
type of coated fabric, it can be concluded that uniaxial tensile tests
give a good outlook on its mechanical properties.

4. Concept of non-linear elastic identication

In this paper, the non-linear elastic parameters for the PVC-

coated fabric AF9032 are identied. These properties do not depict Fig. 14. Comparison of identication results and uniaxial tests.
 A. Ambroziak, P. Kosowski / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 7481
Table 5
Main differences between fabrics test standards.
PN-EN ISO 1421:2001
Test rate 100 mm/min
Grip distance Strip length: 200 mm, or 100 mm if strain exceeds 75%
Strip test Specimens 50 mm width
Fig. 15. Results of calculation comparison with identication.
the full work conditions of fabric in real structures, but can be used
by engineers to estimate behaviour of coated fabrics, especially in
the initial stage of the design process. Additionally, they can be an
introduction to the comprehensive investigation of nonlinear
behaviour of technical woven fabrics.
After the analysis of the strainstress curves, it is possible to ob-
serve for the warp and weft some characteristic points of curvature
change, see e.g. [6,24]. The strainstress function in the adequate
strain ranges has been assumed to be the piece-wise linear rela-
tions. The authors assume that three inclination coefcients of
the straight lines F1A, F1B, F1C specify the longitudinal modulus
for the warp and four inclination coefcients of the straight lines
F2A, F2B, F2C, F2D specify the longitudinal modulus for the weft
in the admissible range of strains, see Fig. 12. Finding the inclina-
tion coefcients, in the assumed range of strain, the intersection
points eP1, eP2 for the warp and eP1, eP2, eP3 for the weft are
Fig. 16. Map of equivalent stress [1e + 6 = 1 kN/m].
79
ASTM D751
300 mm/min
75 mm
Specimens 25 mm wide (or other wide when specied)
determined. These intersection points specify the range of applica-
bility of an individual parameter.
On the basis of this numerical algorithm for individual tests, the
coefcients F1A, F1B, F1C for the warp and F2A, F2B, F2C, F2D for the
weft have been determined, using the least squares regression in
the MarquardtLevensberg variant [36]. The results of the piece-
wise linear approximation for the uniaxial tensile tests are given
in Table 4. The approximation functions of stiffness are shown in
Figs. 13 and 14 are compared with the laboratory tests results.
The authors have noticed a good correlation of stressstrain rela-
tion (the coefcient of determination R2 > 0.98 for presented func-
tions is reached). The values of the ultimate tensile strength for the
uniaxial tensile tests for the warp UTSwarp = 116 1 kN/m and for
the weft UTSweft = 104 2 kN/m are obtained. The manufacturer
(http://architecturalfabrics.com/product-data/9032.php) of the
tested fabric gives the following value of the ultimate tensile strip
strength: UTSwarp = 115.6 kN/m and UTSweft = 115.6 kN/m. These
values have been established according to ASTM D751 standard.
This small difference of the UTS value can be explained by using
different types of grips or different test rate required by the stan-
dard applied in tests methodology, see Table 5.
5. Numerical simulations
To verify the results of the identication, the numerical simula-
tion of the biaxial tension tests has been performed. The following
geometrical parameters a = 300 mm (cross length), b = 100 mm
(with) and t = 1 mm (thickness) have been taken, see Fig. 5. The re-
sults obtained from MSC.Marc system, with the nonlinear elastic
properties for the warp and weft applied according to Table 4,
are compared with the laboratory tests, see Fig. 15. The authors no-
tice good agreement of the stressstrain relation, received from
both MSC.Marc calculations and the identication results (the
determination coefcient is R2 > 0.90). The results of the HMH
80 A. Ambroziak, P. Kosowski / Construction and Building Materials 50 (2014) 7481
Fig. 17. Map of equivalent of total strain ().
Fig. 18. Damaged specimen after biaxial tensile test.
equivalent stress and strain are shown in Figs. 16 and 17, respec-
tively. The maximal values of the equivalent stress are located
nearby corners, where in experiments the damage of specimens
has begun, see Fig. 18. This simple test conrms the correctness
of material parameters identication.
6. Conclusions
The authors of the present paper investigated the immediate
non-linear elastic properties of AF9032 coated fabric. The identi-
cation of the non-linear elastic model has been successfully per-
formed on the basis of the uniaxial tension tests. The most
important nding of the research is that in engineering calcula-
tions in the preliminary design stage the uniaxial tensile tests re-
sults can be directly used also to describe biaxial behaviour of the
structure. The biaxial tests need expensive laboratory equipment
which is often not available for a designer. But in the most of typ-
ical numerical calculations the uniaxial tests results are good en-
ough. On the other hand, the designer must at least take into
account the piece-wise characteristic of the strainstress relation.
The results of the sophisticated biaxial tests are more difcult in
interpretation, therefore also their usage in numerical applications
is more difcult. It should be noted that, if full mechanical (includ-
ing plastic or rheological) properties of the coated fabrics have to
be established, it would be necessary to perform additional types
of tests (e.g. cyclic tests, rheological tests). The cyclic tests show
how immediate stiffness parameters change in following cycles.
In the rheological tests the long term tensile strength limit (LTS)
can be specied.
The material parameters, which have been determined above,
could be directly used in the FEM analyse of having arbitrary
shapes structures made of the investigated PVC-coated fabric (with
different warp to weft ratios of stresses).
Acknowledgment
The authors would like to acknowledge the National Science
Centre, Poland (Grant No. UMO-2011/03/B/ST8/06500) for the
nancial support of the research.
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