I am trying to model a knitted hose with Aramid (Example attached with this question). For the hose (outer and inner surfaces), I plan to use conventional shell elements (S4R), and for the reinforcements (knitting), shell elements with membrane properties (M3D4). I would like to calculate the stresses in the reinforcing layer.
I would like to know, is this the best way to model reinforcements like this? What is special about membrane properties that shells don't have?