Abstract
The mechanical behavior of PVC-coated fabric materials for offshore membrane structures was investigated through off-axial tensile testing and orthotropic elastoplastic numerical simulation. Off-axial tensile tests were conducted at 0, 45, and 90 to obtain the material properties, including the strain and displacement distribution, stress–strain relationship, and failure strengths. The orthotropic mechanical behavior was captured by the Karafillis-Boyce yield criterion with a linear transformation to define an isotropic plasticity equivalent stress, enabling the application of equivalent plastic strain-based exponential hardening. Failure strength under off-axial loading was also evaluated using both the maximum principal stress criterion and the Tsai–Hill criterion. The comparisons between the experimental results and numerical simulations in strain distribution and stress-strain relationship show strong agreement, supporting the accuracy of the proposed model. This framework provides a comprehensive understanding of the mechanical properties and behavior of PVC-coated fabrics.