Smart composite shell structures with shape memory alloy wires and thin foils

Abstract

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) find many applications in smart composite structural systems as the active components. Their ability to provide a high force and large displacement makes them an excellent candidate for an actuator for controlling the shape of smart structures. In this paper, using a macroscopic model that captures the thermo-mechanical behaviors and the two-way shape memory effect (TWSME) of SMAs smart morphing polymeric composite shell structures like shape-changeable UAV wings is demonstrated and analyzed numerically and experimentally when subjected to various kinds of pressure loads. The controllable shapes of the morphing shells to that thin SMA strip actuator are attached are investigated depending on various phase transformation temperatures. SMA strips start to transform from the martensitic into the austenitic state upon actuation through resistive heating, simultaneously recover the prestrain, and thus cause the shell structures to deform three dimensionally. The behaviors of composite shells attached with SMA strip actuators are analyzed using the finite element methods and 3-D constitutive equations of SMAs. Several morphing composite shell structures are fabricated and their experimental shape changes depending on temperatures are compared to the numerical results. That two results show good correlations indicates the finite element analysis and 3-D constitutive equations are accurate enough to utilize them for the design of smart composite shell structures for various applications.