Method of thickness optimization of textile structures during coupled heat and mass transport

The transient, coupled heat and mass transport within textile structures is defined by means of state equations,and a set of boundary and initial conditions. The state equations according to Henry/David and Nordon describe the mass balance within a textile structure, the conservation of energy, as well as the relationship between water vapour concentration within fibrefibres and relative humidities of the air and fibre. An arbitrary behavioral functional is introduced and its first-order sensitivity is analyzed. Simple numerical examples of both the optimisation and identification of the material thickness are presented.