Refined shape memory alloys model taking into account martensite reorientation

The employment of shape memory alloys (SMAs) in a large number of engineering applications has been the motivation for an increasing interest toward a correct and exhaustive modeling of SMA macroscopic behavior. The aim of this paper is the numerical investigation of the theoretical model recently proposed by Auricchio and Bonetti, performed through a more effective and efficient procedure, inspired to that presented for crystal plasticity and consisting in the replacement of the classical set of Kuhn-Tucker conditions by the so-called Fischer-Burmeister complementarity function. Numerical predictions associated with various thermo mechanical paths are compared to experimental results and the analysis of a boundary value problem is described. Numerical results assess the reliability of the new model and the procedure is verified to be appropriate for the model itself.