Strengthening of Reinforced Concrete Beams with Externally Mounted Sequentially Activated Iron-Based Shape Memory Alloys.

Iron based shape memory alloys (Fe-SMA) have recently been used as active flexural strengthening material for reinforced concrete (RC) beams. Fe-SMAs are characterized by a shape memory effect (SME) which allows the recovery of previously induced plastic deformations through heating. If these deformations are restrained a recovery stress is generated by the SME.