Construction and Building Materials DOI:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2013.08.060 MECHANICAL PROPERTIES FOR PRELIMINARY DESIGN OF STRUCTURES MADE FROM PVC COATED FABRIC Andrzej AMBROZIAK, Paweł Kłosowski Abstract: In this paper, laboratory tests necessary for the identification of non-linear elastic immediate properties of the PVC coated polyester fabric (like AF 9032) are described. The material parameters are specified on the basis of the uniaxial tensile tests in the warp and weft directions as well as on the base of the biaxial tensile tests. For the identification process techniques based on the least squares method are used. The 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: fabric/textiles, mechanical properties, mechanical testing Introduction Material model of fabrics – dense net model Laboratory tensile tests Concept of non-linear elastic identification Numerical simulations Conclusions Acknowledgment The authors would like to acknowledge the National Science Centre, Poland (Grant No. UMO-2011/03/B/ST8/06500) for the financial support of the research. References [1] Mattinson E. H.: The coating of fabrics with P.V.C., Journal of the Textile Institute Proceedings 1960; 51(2): 690-698. [2] Reinhardt H.W.: On the biaxial testing and strength of coated fabrics. Experimental Mechanics 1976; 16(2): 71-74. [3] Stubbs N., Thomas S.: A nonlinear elastic constitutive model for coated fabrics. Mechanics of Materials 1984; 3(2): 157-168. [4] Argyris J., Doltsinis I.St., Silva V.D., Constitutive Modelling and Computation on Non-linear Viscoelastic Solid. Part I: Rheological Models and Numerical Integration Techniques, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering 1991; 88: 135–163.