Behavior of a simple concrete beam driven by shape memory alloy wires

The behavior of a simple concrete beam driven by heated shape memory alloy (SMA) wires using electrical currents is studied in this paper. The test results indicate that recovery forces of the SMA wires can decrease the mid-span deflection of the simple concrete beam, decrease the absolute value of compressive strains and even compress the concrete in the tensile zone. Furthermore, the heated SMA wires can make cracks close and perform the task of emergency damage repair in civil structures. This study also attempts to conduct permanent damage repair using carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) plates after emergency damage repair using SMA wires. Moreover, the relationship between rate of change of resistance of the SMAs and mid-span deflection of the beam is obtained in this paper. It is devoted to damage detection for civil structures.