A simple beam element, large displacement model for the finite element simulation of cloth drape

The behaviour of cloth draped about a human body form is simulated by modelling a garment as a mesh of simple beam finite elements, with geometric stiffness to account for large displacement behaviour, and carrying out a dynamic, time-stepping analysis to predict its behaviour as it falls from an initial horizontal position to the final draped position, The body form is based on anthropomorphic data produced by a shadow scanner, A novel scheme is introduced to model the contact between the cloth and the underlying body form, The model is used to provide data for an animated display which is found to simulate the drape of the garment sufficiently realistically for the garment designer's purposes.