An SMA passive device proposed within the highway bridge benchmark

A highway bridge benchmark problem, focused on limiting excessive displacements during a given set of seismic events, has been formulated recently, The contribution summarized in this paper presents the application of a shape memory alloy (SMA) device to this benchmark problem. The analytical model of the SMA device is incorporated in the control force equation of the sample passive device. The effects of the proposed passive device on the dynamic response of the highway bridge are studied for six ground motion excitations. The results show that the proposed passive SMA damper can aggressively limit peak bearing and displacement response quantities during strong earthquakes. However, this is achieved at the cost of an increase in peak base shear and overturning moment. Such increase can be reduced by an integrated design of the device with other components of the bridge. Copyright (C) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.