An overview of vibration and seismicapplications of NiTi shape memory alloy

Abstract

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) exhibit peculiar thermomechanical, thermoelectrical and thermochemicalbehaviors under mechanical, thermal, electrical and chemicalconditions. Examples of these materials are Cu-based SMAs, NiTiSMAs, ferrous SMAs, shape memory ceramics and shape memorypolymers. NiTi SMAs in particular, have unique thermomechanical behaviors such as shape memory effect and pseudoelasticity, which have made them attractivecandidates for structural vibration control applications.Numerous studies have been conducted in modeling andapplications of NiTi SMAs in structural vibration control. Several active, passive and hybrid energy absorption andvibration isolation devices have been developed utilizing NiTiSMAs. In this paper we present an overview of NiTi behaviors,modeling and applications as well as their limitations forstructural vibration control and seismic isolation.