Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Smart Laminates with Embedded SMA Actuators—Part II: Numerical Models and Empirical Correlations

Up to now one of the main limitations for a large use of shape memory alloys (SMA)-based smart composite structures in the aerospace industry is the lack of useful numerical tools for design; in addition, some technological aspects still need a more detailed investigation. This article shows numerical modeling approaches adopted for the implementation of SMA constitutive laws in commercial codes such as ABAQUS. Two different approaches were selected. The first one is based on the thermomechanical model proposed by Turner and the other one follows the thermodynamic macromechanical constitutive law developed by Lagoudas. The implementation in ABAQUS code was followed by a procedure to evaluate model parameters and to experimentally validate the reliability of code predictions for specifically designed test situations. This article presents the test campaign carried out for the definition of these parameters and the numerical-experimental correlation for both the models.