Influence of shape memory alloy on seismic behaviour of hollow-section concrete columns

The influence of shape memory alloy (SMA) reinforcement on the non-linear static and dynamic responses of hollow-section concrete columns to earthquakes was investigated. The seismic performance of concrete columns reinforced with steel and with a mix of SMA and steel was compared by assessing their ductility ratios, dissipated energies, strain recovery capacities and collapse drifts. The influence of near- and far-field ground motions on the static and dynamic responses of the test columns was also investigated. To verify the results, the columns were subjected to a near-field ground motion related to an existing earthquake and the relative displacement response history was compared with experimental results. Compared with the steel-reinforced column, it was found that the use of the hybrid SMA–steel reinforcement was more effective at recovering strains and reduced the residual deflections. On the other hand, the steel-reinforced column had a greater ductility ratio and energy dissipation capacity. It is therefore important to find an optimal combination length for the two types of reinforcement in a concrete column. The results indicated that the optimum reinforcement configuration involves replacing steel with SMA at 15–20% of column height, which includes the probable plastic hinge length.