Over the years, prestressing concrete has become a well-known technique to improve the ultimate and serviceability state of RC members. Besides steel reinforcement, relatively new materials such as carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) or especially shape memory alloys (SMA) can be used to active strengthening. The main scope of this paper is to compare various prestressing methods using carbon composites and memory steel alloys. A description of SMA, shape memory effect, its utilization for prestressing, and CFRP materials are presented in the paper. Moreover, current state-of-the-art developments in the field of both materials, considering prestressing systems and available anchorage, material behavior, creep and stress relaxation, durability issues, thermal compatibility with concrete, and fire behavior, are described. A general revision of previous studies based on flexural strengthening using both materials is conducted and the selected results of these studies are briefly presented. The behavior of RC beams after strengthening with mentioned techniques is compared and discussed. Selected on-site applications are described to confirm the feasibility and practicality of the strengthening systems. Finally, the main advantages and disadvantages of CFRP and SMA materials for prestressing concrete structures are summarized and further recommendations for the future research are listed.
Keywords: CFRP; RC beam; SMA; comparison; flexural strengthening; prestressing.