Shape memory alloys (SMAs) display peculiar properties such as the superelastic behaviour or the shape memory effect, which are both the result of a solid/solid phase transformation between different crystallographic structures (known as austenite and martensite). Thanks to these properties, SMAs offer new perspectives in various fields such as aeronautics, robotics, biomedicals, or civil engineering. Efficient design of SMA systems requires both adequate material models and numerical methods for simulating the response of SMA structures. Whereas much effort has been devoted to developing constitutive laws for describing the behaviour of SMAs, the structural problem has comparatively received far less attention, and is the focus of this Communication.
Numerical tools for the thermomechanical simulation of shape memory alloys structures