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Experimental and numerical works are reported to assess the cyclic response of concrete beams reinforced with superelastic alloy (SEA) bars. The feasibility of newly developed Cu–Al–Mn SEA bars, characterized by large recovery strain, low material cost and high machinability, is examined as partial replacements for conventional steel bars, in order to reduce residual cracks in structures during and after intense earthquakes. Four-point reverse cyclic bending tests were done on one-third scale concrete beams comprising three different types of specimens—conventional steel reinforced concrete, SEA reinforced concrete and SEA reinforced concrete (RC) with pre-tensioning. The results showed that SEA reinforced concrete beams demonstrated strong recentering capability and significant enhancement in crack recovery capacity, in comparison to steel reinforced beams. Furthermore, corresponding finite element models were generated to simulate the experimental observations. Both the experimental observations and finite element computations illustrated the superiority of SEA bars to conventional steel bars in providing RC beam specimens with recentering and crack recovery capabilities.

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This paper presents analytical modeling to study the seismic response of bridge systems with conventional and advanced details. For validation, a 33 m quarter-scale model of a four-span bridge incorporating innovative materials and details seismically tested on the shake tables at the University of Nevada, Reno was taken. The bridge specimen involved use of advanced materials and details to reduce damage at plastic hinges and minimize residual displacements. A threedimensional, nonlinear model incorporating the response of the innovative materials was developed to study the bridge response using the finite-element software OpenSees. Existing finite-element formulations were used to capture the response of the advanced materials used in the bridge. The analytical model was found to be able to reproduce comparable bent displacements and bent shear forces within reasonable accuracy. The validated model was further used to study different types of bridges under suite of scaled bi-directional near-fault ground motions. Comparisons were made on behavior of five different bridge types, first conventional reinforced concrete bridge, second post-tensioned column bridge, third bridge with elastomeric rubber elements at the plastic hinge zone, fourth bridge with nickel-titanium superelastic shape memory alloy (SMA) reinforcing bar and fifth bridge with CuAlMn superelastic SMA reinforcing bar. Both the SMA used bridges also utilized engineered cementitious composite element at the plastic hinge zone. The results showed effectiveness of the innovative interventions on the bridges in providing excellent recentering capabilities with minimal damage to the columns.