Clothing Design Method for Realizing Comfortable Clothing Pressureby Using Finite Element Method

Clothing pressure is evaluated by wearing clothes on a human body or a dummy and measuring the pressure using pressure sensors. We have developed a technique for predicting clothing pressure by the finite element method using the experimentally obtained tensile properties of knitted fabrics. Our technique does not involve making actual clothes. In this study, we succeeded in wearing the pattern of the girdle on a human body model by utilizing data that represent the pattern of the girdle and the bending of the girdle along the side of the model. After determining the comfortable pressure, the appropriate knitted fabrics that produce the target clothing pressure were chosen according to the predicted clothing pressure. A girdle was sewn using the chosen knitted fabric, and subjects wore this girdle; thus, it was verified that the girdle can provide a comfortable sensation because it produces the appropriate pressure. In addition, when wearing the girdle, the high-frequency component (HF) of the electrocardiogram (parasympathetic nervous system index) was high, and this is indicative of physiological relaxation. However, there were difference between the numerical clothing pressure using rigid body and the experimental clothing pressure measured by elastic Human body. Thus, depending on how to usage, the technique for predicting clothing pressure can be applied to the clothing design for the comfortable clothing pressure.