Computational analysis of martensitic thin films using subdivision surfaces

This paper studies numerically the deformation of thin films made of materials undergoing martensitic phase transformations by using subdivision surfaces. These thin films have received interest as potential microactuators, and specifically a tent-like configuration has recently been proposed. In order to model martensitic materials we use a multi-well strain energy combined with an interfacial energy penalizing strain gradients. The study of such configurations requires adequate resolution of inhomogeneous in-plane stretch, out-of-plane deformation and transition regions across which the deformation gradient changes sharply. This paper demonstrates that subdivision surfaces provide an attractive tool in the numerical study of such configurations, and also provides insights into the tent-like deformations. Copyright q 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd