Prediction of the air permeability of woven fabrics using neural networks

Purpose - The target of the current work is the creation of a model for the prediction of the air permeability of the woven fabrics and the water content of the fabrics after the vacuum drying.Design methodology approach - There have been produced 30 different woven fabrics under certain weft and warp densities. The values of the air permeability and water content after the vacuum drying have been measured using standard laboratory techniques. The structural parameters of the fabrics and the measured values have been correlated using techniques like multiple linear regression and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN). The ANN and especially the generalized regression ANN permit the prediction of the air permeability of the fabrics and consequently of the water content after vacuum drying. The performance of the related models has been evaluated by comparing the predicted values with the respective experimental ones.Findings - The predicted values from the nonlinear models approach satisfactorily the experimental results. Although air permeability of the textile fabrics is a complex phenomenon, the nonlinear modeling becomes a useful tool for its prediction based on the structural data of the woven fabrics.Originality value - The air permeability and water content modeling support the prediction of the related physical properties of the fabric based on the design parameters only. The vacuum drying performance estimation supports the optimization of the industrial drying procedure.