This paper reviews the researches on the constitutive relationships and shear performances of woven
preforms. Firstly, the classifications of the woven preforms are introduced, and the structures and properties of 3D woven preforms are analyzed. Then, the recent progresses of research related to the woven preforms are reviewed from the viewpoints of experimental method, constitutive theory and deformation simulation. The typical non-linear charac-teristics of the textile preforms are described, several models of constitutive relationship of woven preforms are introduced, and the progresses on the simulation of the fabric formability are reviewed. Finally,the existing problems and the investigation tendency of 3D textile performs are proposed.