Mechanical properties for preliminary design of structures made from PVC coated fabric

• 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 identification of non-linear elastic properties of the coated fabric.

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.