Experimental investigation on the performance of flexural displacement recovery using crimped shape memory alloy fibers

•Crimped SMA fiber is applied to the recovery of flexural displacement.•Bending test is performed to evaluate cracking and post-cracking resistance.•Residual flexural displacment is recovered by activating SME of SMA fibers.•Flexural recovery moment induced by SME of SMA fiber is developed.•Crack closure accompanied by flexural recovery is evaluated. Damage to a structure generally accompanies flexural deformation, which is mainly related to the safety of the structure. Displacement recovery should precede the repair and retrofitting of damaged concrete structures. In this study, a discrete shape memory alloy (SMA) wire was used to prepare a cementitious material with the capacity for flexural displacement recovery. The applicability of the SMA fiber-reinforced cementitious material is limited because of the geometry of the SMA wire. The proposed method for recovering the flexural displacement of concrete structures involves a new shape of the crimped SMA wire that increases the resistance between the wire and cementitious matrix. Cementitious slab specimens were designed according to the SMA content. A bending test was performed to determine the cracking and post-cracking flexural resistances. Heat was then applied to activate the shape memory effect of discontinuous SMA wire randomly mixed with cementitious materials. The results demonstrated that the crimped SMA fiber-reinforced cementitious slab with a content of 0.5–1.5% recovered the flexural displacement of the slab specimen, in addition to the closure of the crack.