Environmentally induced deterioration of concrete: physical motivation and numerical modeling

This paper is concerned with the effects of moisture, heat and chemical dissolution processes on the long-term behavior of concrete structures. Motivated by experimental findings described in this paper, numerical models for durability analysis of concrete structures, taking hygrally, thermally and chemically induced degradation processes into account, are described. As an example for chemically corrosive mechanisms in concrete structures, the material degradation due to calcium leaching and mechanical loading is considered in a coupled chemo-mechanical model. Furthermore, the interactions between mechanically induced damage, moisture and heat transport are taken into account in a coupled hygro-thermo-mechanical model for concrete. Results from two-dimensional simulations of a concrete panel subjected to coupled mechanical, hygral and thermal loading and coupled chemo-mechanical loading, respectively, are included as representative numerical examples.