ANALYSIS OF CONTROLLED BEAM DEFLECTIONS USING SMA WIRES

In this paper the active control of beam deflection through heating an d cooling of Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires is examined. A phenomenolo gical constitutive law for SMA wires is coupled with beam theory to pr ovide predictions of beam shape upon temperature change in the SMA act uator. Both the linear and nonlinear beam theory are presented, enabli ng calculation of large deflections. Examples for a single wire attach ed at the tip of a uniform beam are given, but the procedure can easil y be generalized for other configurations and utilized in control algo rithms. Issues of design constraints for shape control with shape memo ry wires are addressed and the model is qualitatively verified by expe riments.