Nonlinear transient phenomena in porous media with special regard to concrete and durability

Concrete deteriorates due to many different mechanisms. Among the most important mechanisms is the reinforcement corrosion induced by deleterious substances reaching the embedded reinforcement bars. The external sources of deleterious materials may, for example, be deicing salts, sea water, and carbon dioxide. Research has sought to determine threshold values, in terms of concentration of deleterious substances in concrete, at which reinforcement corrosion will be induced, that is, at which concentration the passive condition close to the reinforcement turns to an aggressive state. To predict when this threshold value is reached, the flow properties of the pollutant in concrete must be known. Some of the most important phenomena governing the movement of pollutants in concrete are diffusion of substances in the pore water, adsorption (and desorption) of pollutants onto the pore walls, and hydrodynamic dispersion and convection of substances due to flow of the pore water. Here a set of equations will be presented based on mass and energy balance. These coupled equations cope with the above-mentioned phenomena. The migration of ions due to an electric potential is not considered as only the initiation stage of corrosion is of interest. The constituents considered in the model are a solute γ (e.g., chlorides), the pore water α, and the solid phase s of the concrete, which is restricted to be nondeformable. The governed equation system is solved using the Petrov-Galerkin scheme and finite elements (compare references 1 and 2). Some examples of the performance of the proposed model are given.