Modelling and simulation of the superelastic behaviour of shape memory alloys using the element-free Galerkin method

This paper is concerned with the application of the element-free Galerkin method to simulate the superelastic behaviour of shape memory alloys (SMA). The meshfree shape functions are derived from a moving least-squares interpolation scheme. A thermomechanical SMA constitutive law is used to describe the superelastic effect. The incremental displacement-based formulation for large deformation is developed by employing the meshfree shape functions and the continuum tangent stiffness tensor in the weak form of the equilibrium equations. By eliminating the unknown constrained nodal variables from the discrete equations, an effective approach is developed for the imposition of the essential boundary conditions. The numerical tests show that the proposed meshfree scheme can successfully reproduce the superelastic behaviour of shape memory alloys. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.