1. A method of generating a model of a yarn material suitable for use in finite element analysis, the method comprising: generating a yarn model from an assembly of fibers, each of the fibers being represented as a uniform tubular structure with empirically-determined mechanical properties; simulating deformations of the yarn model by applying one or more strains selected from the group consisting of stretching, compressing, twisting, and bending, and calculating resulting stresses; and homogenizing the yarn model of the assembly of fibers to produce a homogeneous representation of the yarn material (“YMM”) as a uniform element, wherein mechanical properties of the YMM approximate those simulated using the yarn model of the assembly of fibers.