In this paper, a new type of the seismic resisting members with the shape memory alloys (SMA) wire, such as brace and exposed-type column base, were proposed as a hysteretic damper for building structures. Pulsating tension loading tests were performed with constant, increasing and decreasing strain amplitude to investigate restoring force characteristics of the wire. Then, the metallo-thermomechanics model with internal variable was introduced. Using the numerical model, the restoring force characteristics of the wire under high speed loading, such as a seismic loading, were predicted. The results showed that the phenomena should be treated in the numerical model with transformation. Furthermore, these results are used to discuss the applicability and availability of the SMA wire for the seismic resisting members. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
