DESIGN AND EXPERIMENT OF A SMART CONCRETE BRIDGE WITH EMBEDDED SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY BUNDLES

As an exploration of applying SMA in practical structural engineering, deflection characteristics of two smart concrete beams and a bridge with embedded shape memory alloy (SMA) bundles were studied. The design method was presented, recovery forces generated by SMA bundles with electric heating, temperatures of SMA bundles and deflections of the beams and the bridge were monitored, and the influence of activating current strength on the recovery forces generating rate of SMA was tested. The experimental results indicate that the additional recovery forces generated by the SMA could be changed by altering its temperature. Therefore, SMA could be used to adjust the deflection of the concrete beams and the bridge, and enhance the load-resisting capability of the concrete bridge.