Shear behavior of architectural coated fabrics under biaxial bias-extension

As two typical kinds of architectural coated fabrics, PVDF coated polyester fabrics and PTFE coated glass-fiber fabrics have been prevalently used in tensile structures. Shear behaviors of architectural coated fabric is generally regarded as an unneglectable factor when analyzing and simulating mechanical response of tensile structures. This paper employed two approaches to investigate the shear stress-strain characteristics to understand the shear properties of these two common coated fabrics. At first, a finite element model of the cruciform specimen was developed to calculate the shear stress-strain distribution. The results of finite element analysis showed uniform shear stress field and uniform shear strain field in octagonal core area. Then, biaxial bias-extension test was carried out to study the shear behaviors of architectural fabrics. Experimental results showed viscoelastic-plastic property of architectural coated fabrics and the shear stiffness of PTFE coated glass-fiber fabrics greater than that of PVDF coated polyester fabrics.