Full-wave electromagnetic modelling of fabrics and composites

In this paper different types of fabrics and composites with conducting yarns are considered. The topology of the fabrics or composites is described using the type of format used in software tools originally developed to model their mechanical properties. The topology is simplified using a special conversion technique in order to allow fast electromagnetic analysis. Different possible approximations of conducting yarns used in the electromagnetic analysis are discussed. The analysis itself consists of the solution of the integral equations for the electric currents flowing on the conducting yarns, using the method of moments (MoM). For plane wave excitation the shielding effectiveness is calculated. The agreement between theory and experiments confirms the validity of the approach. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.