Comparative Analysis and Numerical Simulation of the Macro-mechanical Models of Shape Memory Alloy

The existing macro-mechanical models for nickel-titanium shape memory alloys (SMAs) are mainly used in technological applications, and can be implemented easily by means of numeric methods. The models of Tanaka, Liang-Rogers, Brinson and Auricchio present the same features and are numerically analyzed. The parameters of the material used in the simulation of the models have been obtained experimentally. The models have been analyzed and compared under the same conditions, through the use of stress and temperature as control variables. In the present work, four models have been simulated by using a MATLAB graphic user interface for the thermo-mechanical characterization of shape memory alloy via the implementation of an algorithm for the numeric implementation of the thermo-mechanical cycle. In the literature consulted, the development of the numeric implementation has been introduced by comparing the analyzed models.