SMART PRESTRESSING WITH SHAPE-MEMORY ALLOY

By Arup K. Maji, l Member, ASCE, and Ihosvany Negree

ABSTRACT: Shape-memory effect in nickel-titanium (nitinol) alloy was successfully utilized as a way of in-
ducing additional prestressing in concrete. Strands made with NiTi (nickeVtitanium) ~hape-memory alloy (SMA)
wires were elongated beyond their plastic limit and subsequently were emb~dded m model concrete (mo~)
beams. Upon electrical heating, a martensite-to-austenite phase transformation. t~es place and t~e maten~l
undergoes large shrinkage strains. This strain energy can be used to generate a slgruficant prestressmg force m
concrete. Potentially, this provides a means of creating a "smart bridge," where the amount of prestress can be
increased or decreased as needed. Such a structure could actively accommodate additional loading, or remedy
prestress losses over time. Properties of the SMA material and the micromech~cs of its b~nd with c?ncre~e
were investigated. Strands made with SMA wires were electrically actuated to mduce deflectlOn and fallure m
concrete (mortar) beams. Optical microscopy and the acoustic emission technique were used to understand the
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actuation mechanisms.

RELEVANT REVIEW OF SHAPE-MEMORY EFFECT
Shape-memory effect in various alloys has been docu-
mented since the early 1930s. The discovery of shape-memory
effect in the Ni-50% Ti alloy in 1962 (Buehler et al. 1963)
caused a surge of activity in this area, leading to a significant
number of commercial products available in the mechanical
and aerospace industry since the early 1980s. The fundamental
micromechanics of the shape-memory effect can be under-
stood from Fig. 1 (Wayman 1993; Shape 1997). The Ni-Ti
alloy after some form of thermomechanical heat treatment
(partially annealed) exists in the "martensitic" form at a low
(room) temperature. When the material is in this form and is
subject to plastic deformation, it undergoes a mechanical twin-
ning process where each adjacent layer of atoms moves by
one lattice parameter. However, when the material is heated,
it undergoes a phase transformation to the "austenite" phase,
recovering most of the mechanically imposed deformation. In
real life, this phase transformation takes place over a range of
temperatures, leading to a hysteresis loop (Fig. 2). As and Af
are the austenite start and finish temperatures, i.e., the tem-
peratures at which the transformation to austenite starts and
finishes. M s and Mf are the martensite start and finish temper-
atures. M d will be defined later.
It is also possible to obtain two-way shape-memory effect
by an extensive thermomechanical cycling (White et al. 1993).
This involves heating the alloy above Af while it is constrained,
and subsequent cooling to below Mf , for several cycles. The
resulting two-way shape-memory material can undergo large
and opposite deformations upon heating and cooling for sev-
eral cycles, and can serve as a two-way actuator. Using this
two-way effect, one can apply and remove stress in a structure
on an as-needed basis, which can lead to a smart bridge, where
the amount of prestress can be adjusted on an as-needed basis.
Constrained Recovery of Shape
When the alloy is free to deform, its behavior is as shown
in Fig. 3. It is first mechanically strained beyond its plastic
limit to £,. When the load is removed, it recovers a little and
retains the plastic strain £p, like a regular metal. Upon heating,
'Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Civ. Engrg., Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquer-
que, NM 87131. E-mail: amaji@unm.edu
2Mech. Engrg., Univ. of Puerto Rico, PRo
Note. Associate Editor: Stuart Swartz. Discussion open until March I,
1999. To extend the closing date one month a written request must be
filed with the ASCE Manager of Journals. The manuscript for this paper
was submitted for review and possible publication on November 19,
1997. This paper is part of the JOUT1Ul1 of Engineering Mechanics, Vol.
124, No. 10, October, 1998. ©ASCE, ISSN 0733-9399/98/0010-1121-
1128/$8.00 + $.50 per page. Paper No. 17120.
this plastic strain disappears, with only a small unrecovered
strain in the end, €t. The strain versus temperature plot shows
a likewise strain to £, and £p at room temperature, followed by
a gradual strain recovery upon heating past the austenite start
temperature AS' which ends at A/.
In the prestressing application of the present paper, the
shape-memory material is constrained by the rest of the struc-
ture, and must induce large stresses that, in effect, oppose its
strain recovery. The consequent behavior (Duerig and Melton
1989) is as depicted in Fig. 4. When heated from room tem-
perature Td , past AS' the phase transformation to austenite be-
gins. Due to the constrain effect, the strain recovery from £p
to £, is gradual (depending on the amount of constraint). The
actuation stress also increases gradually from zero at As to a
maximum value of IT, at Md' M d is the maximum temperature
at which some transformation still occurs, or the maximum
temperature at which martensite can still be stress induced. It
can be seen that as the temperature rises, larger actuation
stresses are generated up to a maximum of IT, at Md' This is
the situation that occurs when the nitinol strands are gradually
heated to activate prestressing in our model beams.
EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM
NiTi shape-memory alloys for our research (binary, straight
annealed, oxide finish) were obtained from Shape Memory
Applications (Santa Clara, Calif.). They had been partially heat
treated to obtain the shape-memory effect. Some of their prop-
erties are given in Table 1; others are available on the com-
pany's Web page (Shape 1997). Since our material was par-
tially annealed, the properties were in between those of the
cold-worked and the fully annealed material, and no more spe-
cific material-related information was/is available from the
manufacturer.
Bond Test
The development of bond between the nitinol wires and
mortar is critical to its use as a bonded prestressing tendon.
Since no such data are available in the literature, bond tests
were first conducted. Specimens of 5.1 cm cube mortar were
cast in steel molds with a 2: 1:0.5 weight ratio of sand (passing
number sieve), cement (type I), and water. Some of these
cubes were used for uniaxial compressive tests. In the other
specimens, 0.64 mm diameter wires were embedded to depths
of 12.7 mm, 25.4 mm, and 51 mm. Strands were made from
four single wires in a controlled manner, and were also em-
bedded in other mortar cubes to the sar.le depths of 12.7 mm,
25.4 mm, and 51 mm. Moist curing was done at room tem-
perature. Three samples of each type were tested at 28 days.
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS / OCTOBER 1998/1121

J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.

 Austenite

~',,' Deformed Martensite

Cool
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~"i"
FIG. 1. Phase Transformation of SMA

100 M.

Temperature
FIG. 2. Hysteresis in Phase Transformation

Test were conducted on a 445 kN displacement rate con-
trolled Tinus Olson universal testing machine. The pullout
tests were conducted on the same machine using a special
device to grip the wires/strands, fabricated in the machine
shop. Different load cells were used for the compression tests
(89 kN load cell), strand pullout tests (4.5 kN), and wire pull-
out tests (500 N) to get sufficient sensitivity in the measure-
ments. The pullout test results are summarized in Table 2. The
cube test compressive strength was 33.8 MPa, which corre-
sponds to a cylinder compressive strength of 27.6 MPa, which
will be the f; used in the analyses to follow.
1122/ JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS / OCTOBER 1998
An optical microscope (200x) was used to observe the wires
after their pullout from the mortar. It was observed that the
surface of the individual wires was clean, implying relatively
(compared to steel fibers) weak bond. Such a clean surface is
also observed in nylon or carbon fibers dispersed in concrete,
which also have poor bond with hydration products (Lange et
al. 1996). However, the four-wire strands show cement paste
adhering to the crevices in between the wires (Fig. 5). This
mechanical interlock is responsible for the good bond ob-
served in the strands tested. It should be mentioned that the
bond of carbon and glass fiber-reinforced plastics with con-

J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.

 TABLE 1. Properties of SMA Wires (Shape 1997)
Parameter Value
Vl
Vl (1 ) (2)
<Ll
b Resistivity
Ul
Austenite 100 IJ.-ohm· cm
Martensite 80 IJ.-ohm·cm
Specific gravity 6.45
Coefficient of thermal expansion
Austenite 11 x 1O- 6rC
(a)
Martensite 6.7 x 1O- 6rC
Elastic modulus
Austenite 83 GPa
Martensite 27-41 GPa
Yield strength
Austenite 193-689 MPa
Martensite 69-138 MPa
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Ultimate strength
l'r l... Fully annealed 896 MPa
Work hardened 1,895 MPa
As Ar Elongation at failure
Temperature Fully annealed 25-50%
(b) Work hardened 5-10%
FIG. 3. Strain Recovery under Free Condition
TABLE 2. Wire Pullout Test Data
(j Embedment Load
t f----------..,. (mm) (N)
(j
r f - - - - -.... (1 ) I
(a) Wire (0.64 mm)
(2)
stress
12.7 40.5
25.4 64.5
50.8 I 81.4
(b) Strand (Four-Wire)
E E E
12.7 525
strain r p t
25.4 556
50.8
I 605

E
t
E r
strain P
E
.......... ...
r ~

Td As Md
Temperature

(j
tf-----..
(j
r f-----+-----r--I~
stress

As Md
Temperature

FIG. 4. Constrained Recovery Conditions

crete can exceed that of steel, depending on the configuration
used (strands or rod wrapped with wires) (lyer and Sripathy
1996).
Tension Test of Wires
The objective of using the shape-memory alloy (SMA)
wires was to recover plastic strain when they undergo phase
FIG. 5. Cement Paste in Crevices of Four-Wire Strand
transfonnation. Therefore, it was necessary to measure the
plastic defonnation of the wires. Although some material prop-
erties were available from the manufacturer (Table 1), the
properties specific to our wires were not available. The pullout
test device was once again used, along with a 500 N load cell
to stretch 25.4 cm long, 0.064 mm diameter wires. Since dis-
placement was measured with a dial gauge [0.025 mm (0.001
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS/OCTOBER 1998/1123

J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.

 1400
ter point. The shape-memory strands were activated by heating
1200 them with an applied voltage. This proved to be a bigger chal-
lenge than was anticipated earlier. While the necessary voltage
1000
<is is low, the low resistance of the strands required that the volt-
a.. age source have a large current capacity (about 25 A). A two-
~ 800
channel, 25 A, 25 V variable capacity voltage source was ob-
'"'"~ 600 tained for this purpose. The resistivity of the nitinol is about
(;j
400 35 Il.-ohm· in., the resistance of each strand was 0.21 ohms.
200 .
Analysis of Test Results
o.
'"
C\l '"C>
C\l '"
0 '"C>
..... '"..... '" The results of the tests are shown in Figs. 8(a) and 8(b),
0
0
0
0
0
<Xl
0 0 corresponding to the two-strand and one-strand specimens, re-
0 0
spectively. The acoustic emission (AE) monitoring will be dis-
Strain
cussed later. When the voltage (4.0 V) is first applied, the
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FIG. 6. Strain-Hardening Behavior of Wires thermal expansion of the strands precedes their phase trans-
formation. Hence, in the first minute, the deflection is down-
in.) accuracy] in between the loading platens, it was not ac- ward. Once phase transformation starts, the beams start to
curate enough to measure the elastic stress-strain behavior. The camber, eventually reaching a stable deflection after 8 min,
strain-hardening behavior is, however, obtained as shown in which was accompanied by extensive cracking of the beams
Fig. 6 for the three tests conducted. An ultimate tensile near the supports (Fig. 9). The cracks developed are charac-
strength of 1.28 GPa and an ultimate strain of 10-15% were teristic of bond cracks in reinforced concrete beams, running
obtained. Notice that these numbers are in between those re- parallel to the reinforcing nitinol strands.
ported by the manufacturer for the coldworked and the fully The specimens with only a single strand did not camber
annealed material (Table 1). On the basis of these elongation significantly under the 4.0 V [Fig. 8(b)]. When the applied
tests, it was decided that the four-wire strands would be voltage was increased to 6.0 V (at 10 min), the additional heat
stretched to a strain of 5% of their initial length so as to main- activated the phase transformation, and the eventual deflection
tain an adequate safety factor against failure and yet maximize was half of that obtained with the two-strand beams. This can
the prestressing force generated. be understood from our earlier discussions and Fig. 3. Phase
transformation is retarded or stopped if the strand has to over-
Tests on Model Prestressing Beams come larger stresses. However, at a higher temperature, larger
recovery stresses are obtained. The temperature T(t) in the
A mold for making the model prestressing beams was made
out of wood (Fig. 7). Two specimens measuring 30.5 cm X 1.4 45
2.5 cm X 1.3 cm could be cast. Holes for inserting the nitinol
prestressing strands were left 1.9 mm from the bottom of each 1.2 40
mold. Four-wire strands were pretensioned into the strain- 35
hardening regime prior to placement in the molds. A set of CD
wing nuts were attached to the end of the molds to apply a E 30 :sc
small amount of pretension to the wires as the mortar was cast.
.s 0.8
C 25 ;[
This was done to prevent the strands from sagging and moving CD
E 0.6 CD
out of location during compaction of the mortar on the vibra- CD
u 20 £
tion table. Beams were made with a single four-wire strand, '"
C. 0.4 C
and with two four-wire strands. They were moist cured for 24 a'" 1 5 >CD
L.U
h, removed from the molds, and moist cured up to the time of 0.2 10
testing.
0 5
A three-point bending test rig was used along with a dial
.0.2 -L- ..J. 0
gauge (0.025 mm accuracy) to measure deflections at the cen-
Time (minutes)

FIG. 8(a). Deformation of Beam (TWO Strands)

0.7 'l"'""-------------t------, 7
- Displacement (mm)
0.6 - . - Event Rate (/minute) 6

E •
0.5 5 CD
:sc:
.s
c CD
0.4 4 ;[
CD
E
CD 16
~ 0.3' 3 a:
C. C
CJl CD
a 0.2 2 ~

0.1 ..

o. 0
o· N ~ ~ ~ 0 N ~ ~ ~ 0 N
C\l C\l

Time (minutes)

FIG. 7. Beam Mold, Cube Specimen, and SMA Strand FIG. 8(b). Deformation of Beam (One Strand)

1124/ JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS / OCTOBER 1998

J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.

 FIG. 9. Beam Cracking at Ends

wire rises with the difference between the heat input (l2R) and
the heat conducted away into the concrete beams, and finally
dissipates into the atmosphere by convection.
If T(t) is the average temperature of the beam (in reality,
there is a gradient from the strands to the surface), and initially
everything is at room temperature, the increase of T(t) is given
as
aT(t)
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p -- = ]2R - C[T(t) - To] - KT(t)4 (1)

at
where P accounts for the thermal mass of the beam; C = con-
stant related to convective loss of heat from the surface; To =
initial temperature; and K = constant accounting for radiative
heat loss. Since the temperatures involved are close to room
temperature and the surface of the concrete is white, the ra-
diative part can be neglected and the solution to (1) takes the
form
(2)
The strain recovered by the strands is proportional to the
temperature of the strands (Fig. 4). Eq. (2) therefore explains
the exponential form of the displacement versus time curve
[Fig. 8(a)].
The rise in the temperature of the strands is likely to be
much faster if the strands are unbonded, leading to faster ac-
tuation for unbonded tendons. Various alternate methods of
resistive heating can be used and are beyond the scope of the
present paper.
Calculations pertaining to prestressed concrete beams are
shown in Appendix I. The prestressing stresses generated were
well above those corresponding to the cracking moment, and
above the yield strength of the strands. To maximize the mo-
ment generated and the eccentricity, the cover to the strands
was only 1.3 mm or equal to the strand diameter db (=1.3 mm
for the four-wire strands). This inadequate cover; less than the
2db required by the American Concrete Institute code led to
the splitting bond cracks at the ends of the beams.
Acoustic Emission Monitoring
Acoustic emissions are caused by microcracking of mortar
and phase transformation in the nitinol wires (Maji and Shah
1988). The objective of the present study was to (1) get a
qualitative measure of the stress recovery in terms of the
acoustic emission activity; and (2) locate the source of some
of the AE events to identify the location of the activity.
Figs. 10 and 11 show the experimental setup for the beam
igitizer / Disk Storage
FIG. 11. Test Setup with AE Instrumentation
tests with the AE instrumentation. The instrumentation in-
volved was a two-channel, 100 MHz Nicolet digital oscillo-
scope with adjustable trigger. Two acoustic emission transduc-
ers (Physical Acoustics RI5I) were attached symmetrically at
the two ends of the beam (11 in. apart). The transducers were
coupled to the beams with vacuum grease, and held in place
by rubber bands. The signals were passed through a band-pass
preamplifier (100-500 kHz, Physical Acoustics 1220B) prior
to digitization. The "first arrival time" was measured for each
event by examining the background noise level at each trans-
ducer and determining statistically when the signal first ex-
ceeds the noise level (Maji and Sahu 1994). This provides a
much more accurate first arrival time than does setting a pre-
determined threshold and looking at the first threshold
crossing.
The longitudinal (P) wave velocity was first determined by
breaking a pencil lead 2.5 cm from transducer A and measur-
ing the time separation of the event at the two transducers, A
and B. The P-wave velocity was determined to be 2.17 mls.
Based on this known velocity of the wave, the sources of the
AE events were determined during the prestressing. Only two
transducers were used in a linear source location scheme, and
the transducers were centered on the 2.5 cm wide beams. The
accuracy of the source location was determined to be 1.3 cm,
by inducing AE events (pencil lead fracture) at known loca-
tions on the beam and comparing with the source location
determined using the one-dimensional source location proce-
dure.
The rate of AE events is shown in Figs. 8(a) and 8(b). It
can be observed that the rate approximately corresponds to the
rate of displacement (slope of the displacement versus time
curve). This is because the AE events relate to the transfer of
energy from the SMA to the mortar beam. Source locations
were done on only a few signals, due to the time needed to
25
-a
Q) 2 0 ~
Cii
'-'
o
...J
15

-1--
~
Ul
C
Q)
>
w 10 --- - ---

w
<t:
o 5 --
""
o I _I_
ro 7 7 ro
7
L{)
ro
0
N

'""- '"a
"-
N
7
N "-
N
C'l '"ro L{)
N
(J) 7
0
N L{) L{) "- 0 N "-
N N N C'l

Voltage Supply Distance from Left End (em)

FIG. 10. Schematic of AE Test Setup FIG. 12. AE Event Location along Beam

JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS / OCTOBER 1998/1125

J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.

 B.Z5

B.B

1st Event 2nd Event 3rd Event

-8.Z5

-8.5
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dIAI_·.. ··IM-581.".
FIG. 13(a).
B. •
rllm
Repetitive AE Event at Channel A

8.85

co
!:io 8.8
:)

-8.85

-581." 1.... 1.s..

• • 'W'•
FIG. 13(b). Same AE Event at Channel B
UMM-i'I'.WIM

capture and download a digitized signal onto diskettes. It can
be seen that almost all of the events captured originated from
either end of the beam, where the bond cracks were developing
(Fig. 12).
While the initial events consisted only of a single AE event,
>40% of the signals in the later stages were of the type shown
in Figs. 13(a) and 13(b). Note that the three events in each
channel are separated by the same time interval, implying that
they originate at the same location. The signals originated near
channel A. Hence, their magnitude is larger at channel A and
each of the three events arrives about 130 j.Ls sooner.
These three events (other such multiple events had two or
four separate events with progressive amplification) are not
multiple AE events, since they are not close to any other event
in the time domain. The time interval between these three
events and other such multiple events is random. During this
time interval of about 500 j.LS, the sound (P-wave) is expected
to travel more than 100 cm. Hence, this interval between the
events does not correspond to any internal reflections in the
30.5 cm long specimen. It is our supposition that the multiple
events are caused by one or more phase transformations and
microcracking, which leads to macrocracking that causes a
large amplitude wave.
The frequency content of the AE events was analyzed using
the VUPOINT software. The frequency content of the AE
1126/ JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS / OCTOBER 1998
events is a function of the source frequency and the trans-
ducer's frequency response function. The R1SI transducer has
a dominant peak at 150-170 kHz, and other less dominant
ones at 100 Hz and 240 Hz (Maji et al. 1997). Fig. 14(a) shows
the frequency content of the first of the three events shown in
Fig. 13(a), while Fig. 14(b) shows the frequency content of
the third of the three events. This first event is dominated by
the high frequency at 220 kHz, while the third event contains
lower frequencies. This was typical for most of the multiple
events recorded. Hence, the frequency content of the phase
transformation may be higher than that caused by microcrack-
ing.
CONCLUSIONS
The ability of shape-memory wires to transfer stresses to a
concrete beam was demonstrated. The magnitudes of these
stresses are above the yield stress of the alloy and are well in
excess of what is needed to crack the beam. Tensile tests were
conducted to obtain strain-hardening data. This was used to
determine the proper plastic strain to be applied to the strands
prior to placing them in concrete.
Strands were able to develop good bond with concrete (mor-
tar) by developing mechanical interlock in between the wires.
Inadequate concrete cover to the strands caused spalling at the

J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.

 1.8E-6

3.8E-&
H
::
"-
Ci'
!:ic 2.8E-6
::>

1.8E-6
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:" t 1 rrT \ If ~;t·t t tt 1 'fl 1 I .t,: til' II' " I" '1 ~1 '-11 II .

FIG. 14(a). Frequency Content of First Event at Channel A

1.5E-5

1.8E-5

H
::
"-
Ci'
!:ic
::> 5.8E-6

FIG. 14(b). Frequency Content of Third Event at Channel A

end of the beams. Cracking observed at the end of the beams
was collaborated with acoustic emission source locations.
These experiments demonstrate the possibility of using this
"smart material" in addition to regular prestressing steel to
offset prestress losses after prolonged use or to increase the
capacity of an existing bridge on an as-needed basis, using the
two-way shape-memory effect.
Acoustic emission event rate and source locations match the
observed cracking and deformation rate of the prestressing
tests. Mechanisms responsible for AE events were discussed.
APPENDIX I.
The terminology used here is standard in any reinforced
concrete textbook (MacGregor 1996), where As = area of re-
inforcement (two four-wire strands) = 2.53 mm 2 ; and p = As!
bd = 0.0092 (b = width = 2.5 cm and d = depth = 10.8 mm).
Hence, the amount of reinforcement is realistic, and the sec-
tion is within the American Concrete Institute limits of mini-
mum and maximum allowable reinforcement. The span/depth
ratio of 24 is also representative of reinforced concrete beams.
Deflection of the beam with constant eccentricity of reinforce-
ment (e = 4.4 mm) is given by
PeL 2
8=--
8EJs
where P, L (=29.2 cm), Ee• and Is = prestressing force. span
length. elastic modulus of concrete, and gross moment of in-
ertia, respectively. E e and the cracking strength of concrete fer
are given as (in psi units only) E e = 57.000"V1c = 24.8 GPa
(3.6 msi); f,. = 6\..11c = 2.6 MPa (379 psi); and Is = bh 3/12 =
0.433 cm4 •
Cracking moment is given as
Mer =fy, Is = 178 N'cm
where y, = distance from the neutral axis to the top fiber.
This corresponds to a deflection of the initiation of cracking,
given by
2
M er L
8cr =-
8EJ
- = 0.18 mm
s
Since 8er is much smaller than the maximum deflection
(=1.22 mm) in our experiments, cracking occurs very early on
in the test. So the final deflections should be calculated based
on the cracked section's moment of inertia. I er• This cannot be
done in the conventional way. since the modulus of the alloy
changes as it undergoes phase transformation. An examination
of the beams showed most of the cracking to be occurring at
the ends of the beams due to inadequate cover to develop
adequate bond (Fig. 9). Visible bond cracks at the ends were
(3)
observed at a displacement of 0.76 mm. To initially prestrain
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS /OCTOBER 1998/1127

J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.

 the strands to 5%, it was necessary to apply a force of 178 N
per wire (Fig. 6), which is equivalent to 0.56 GPa. If that 0.56
GPa stress is recovered during heating, from (3), using 19, one
would expect a final deformation of 0.64 mm. The actual ob-
served final deformation in the tests [Fig. 8(a)] was almost
twice that much (1.22 mm), which can be attributed to the
extensive bond cracks.
Prior to cracking (8 < 8er ), the strain in the SMA strand and
the concrete at that level can be calculated from the measured
displacements (8) as
8Be
e=[f
The initial prestress that can be achieved depends on the
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initial elongation of the strands prior to casting. From Fig. 6,
it can be seen that one can apply a prestrain of up to 10%
(350 N/wire) before the wires break. The prestress losses will
be primarily due to relaxation of the SMA, and creep and
shrinkage of concrete. Since there is no jacking or strand cut-
ting involved, there is no elastic shortening, friction, and an-
chorage loss. This could be an added benefit of this form of
prestressing, since these losses add up to 10-20% prestress
loss in steel strands. Some loss is expected at the ends if ade-
quate bond does not exist to withstand the strains due to phase
transformation.
1128/ JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS / OCTOBER 1998
J. Eng. Mech. 1998.124:1121-1128.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ihosvany Negret was supported by a NSFIREU grant. The high current
voltage source was provided by the Air Force Phillips Laboratory.
APPENDIX II. REFERENCES
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