Damage mitigation using shape memory alloy based smart structures against extreme loading

自然灾害（地震、飓风）和/或人为灾害（恐怖袭击、车辆碰撞）对加拿大的基础设施构成严重威胁。重要结构的倒塌或关闭对该地区和/或国家的经济产生严重影响。认识到这一事实，加拿大政府计划在今后两年中花费近40亿加元用于基础设施的修复。有不同的技术用于结构的损伤减轻。在大多数情况下，大规模灾难不可避免地会对结构造成重大损坏，这些结构通常需要进行重大修复或更换，这是一项昂贵的工作。面临的挑战是设计和建造智能结构，在极端负载事件后从损坏中恢复，从而大大减少与基础设施管理相关的问题，并确保公共安全。超弹性形状记忆合金（SMA）是一种特殊的材料，它能使结构在发生大的非弹性变形后恢复到原来的位置。

Natural (earthquakes, hurricanes) and/or manmade disasters (terrorist attacks, vehicular collisions) pose a serious threat to Canadian infrastructure. Collapse or closure of an important structure has a severe impact on the economy of the region and/or country. Recognizing this fact, the Canadian Government plans to spend nearly $4 billion on infrastructure rehabilitation over the next 2 years. There are different techniques for damage mitigation of structures. In most cases significant damage to structures is unavoidable from a large scale catastrophe and the structures often require major rehabilitation or replacement, which is a costly undertaking. The challenge is to design and build intelligent structures that will recover from its damage after an extreme load event and thus, substantially reduce problems associated with infrastructure management, and ensure public safety. Super-Elastic (SE) Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) is a special material which can provide structures with smart self-fixing capabilities to regain their original positions after large inelastic deformation.