Abstract This study presents a new method for strengthening the circular reinforced concrete (RC) column to foundation connections with shape memory alloy (SMA) bars and carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets. In the experimental part of the study, three specimens of RC column-foundation connections were cast and tested. One specimen was used as the reference specimen without strengthening. Two other specimens were strengthened with longitudinal SMA bars and CFRP sheets. These specimens were under a constant axial compressive load and cyclic lateral displacements, simultaneously. Next, initial stiffness, energy dissipation capacity, lateral load capacity, ductility, and residual displacement of the specimens were investigated. Due to the superelastic behavior of SMA bars, the residual displacement of column-foundation connections was considerably less than that of the reference specimen. Compared to the reference specimen, the SMA-strengthened and SMA-CFRP-strengthened connections recovered 71.59% and 76.57% of the residual displacement. Therefore, SMA bars were able to recover residual displacements under cyclic loading. Also, the combination of the SMA bars with CFRP sheet was a promising solution for enhancing the amount of the energy dissipation, lateral load capacity, initial stiffness, and ductility parameters. Compared to the reference specimen, the energy dissipation, lateral load capacity, initial stiffness, and ductility ratio parameters of SMA-CFRP-strengthened connection increased about 43.45%, 76.20%, 81.69%, and 242.45%, respectively. In the numerical part of the study, a subroutine was applied for modeling the SMA materials. For the analysis, this subroutine was linked with ABAQUS software. The numerical results showed a close correlation with the experimental results.

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