Water Transport Behavior of Concrete: Boundary Condition and Water Influential Depth
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 30, Issue 11
Abstract
In this study, water transport in concrete was investigated using an environmental simulation test system, and the boundary conditions of water transport on the concrete surface are proposed in this paper. The water influential depth in concrete was deduced by analyzing the influence of several factors. Moreover, a numerical simulation method was proposed to analyze the influence of wind speed on the mass transfer coefficient and water distribution in concrete. Results indicated that the water distribution and transport process can be represented by the finite difference method and Fick’s diffusion law, but the corresponding water diffusion coefficient of Fick’s diffusion law differs between the wetting and drying processes. In addition, numerical simulation showed that environmental relative humidity can be considered the interface relative humidity when the value of wind speed multiplied by critical time exceeds a certain value. A good relationship between the equilibrium time ratio and influence factors (i.e., water-to-cement ratio, initial water saturation of the concrete, and environmental water saturation degree imposed on the concrete surface) manifested in terms of an exponential function. Furthermore, the water influential depth in concrete and the square root of the wetting time had a linear relationship.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51778632, U1434204, 51408614 and 51378312) and the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2016M600675 and 2017T100647). Author Liu Peng has received research grants from the Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Durability for Marine Civil Engineering (GDDCE14-03, 15-08, 17-2), the Basic Research on Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (JCYJ20170818143541342), and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province of China (2017JJ3385).
References
Appelo, C. A. J. 2017. “Solute transport solved with the Nernst-Planck equation for concrete pores with ‘free’ water and a double layer.” Cem. Concr. Res. 101: 102–113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2017.08.030.
Bažant, Z. P., and L. J. Najjar. 1971. “Drying of concrete as a nonlinear diffusion problem.” Cem. Concr. Res. 1 (5): 461–473. https://doi.org/10.1016/0008-8846(71)90054-8.
Bucher, R., P. Diederich, G. Escadeillas, and M. Cyr. 2017. “Service life of metakaolin-based concrete exposed to carbonation: Comparison with blended cement containing fly ash, blast furnace slag and limestone filler.” Cem. Concr. Res. 99: 18–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2017.04.013.
Cam, H. T., and N. Neithalath. 2010. “Moisture and ionic transport in concretes containing coarse limestone powder.” Cem. Concr. Compos. 32 (7): 486–496. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2010.04.002.
Carme Chaparro, M., and M. W. Saaltink. 2016. “Water, vapour and heat transport in concrete cells for storing radioactive waste.” Adv. Water Resour. 94: 120–130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advwatres.2016.05.004.
CEB (Comité Européen du Béton). 1993. CEB-FIP model code 1990: Design code. London: Thomas Telford.
Charron, J.-P., E. Denarié, and E. Brühwiler. 2008. “Transport properties of water and glycol in an ultra high performance fiber reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) under high tensile deformation.” Cem. Concr. Res. 38 (5): 689–698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2007.12.006.
Chen, M. H., D. Z. Cong, T. N. Fang, and M. Z. Qi. 1999. Principles of chemical engineering. Beijing: Chemistry Industry Press.
Collins, F. G., and J. G. Sanjayan. 2010. “Capillary shape: Influence on water transport within unsaturated alkali activated slag concrete.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 22 (3): 260–266. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561(2010)22:3(260).
Derluyn, H., D. Derome, J. Carmeliet, E. Stora, and R. Barbarulo. 2012. “Hysteretic moisture behavior of concrete: Modeling and analysis.” Cem. Concr. Res. 42 (10): 1379–1388. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2012.06.010.
De Schutter, G., and K. Audenaert. 2004. “Evaluation of water absorption of concrete as a measure for resistance against carbonation and chloride migration.” Mater. Struct. 37 (273): 591–596. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02483288.
Glasser, F. P., J. Marchand, and E. Samson. 2008. “Durability of concrete—Degradation phenomena involving detrimental chemical reactions.” Cem. Concr. Res. 38 (2): 226–246. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2007.09.015.
Guimarães, A. T. C., M. A. Climent, G. de Vera, F. J. Vicente, F. T. Rodrigues, and C. Andrade. 2011. “Determination of chloride diffusivity through partially saturated portland cement concrete by a simplified procedure.” Constr. Build. Mater. 25 (2): 785–790. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2010.07.005.
Gummerson, R. J., C. Hall, W. D. Hoff, R. Hawkes, G. N. Holland, and W. S. Moore. 1979. “Unsaturated water flow within porous materials observed by NMR imaging.” Nature 281 (5726): 56–57. https://doi.org/10.1038/281056a0.
Hall, C. 1989. “Water sorptivity of mortars and concretes: A review.” Mag. Concr. Res. 41 (147): 51–61. https://doi.org/10.1680/macr.1989.41.147.51.
Hall, C., W. D. Hoff, and M. Skeldon. 1983. “The sorptivity of brick: Dependence on the initial water content.” J. Phys. D. Appl. Phys. 16 (10): 1875–1880. https://doi.org/10.1088/0022-3727/16/10/011.
Huang, Q., Z. Jiang, X. Gu, W. Zhang, and B. Guo. 2015. “Numerical simulation of moisture transport in concrete based on a pore size distribution model.” Cem. Concr. Res. 67: 31–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2014.08.003.
Incropera, F. P., D. P. DeWitt, T. L. Bergman, and A. S. Levine. 2009. Fundamentals of heat and mass transfer. Translated by X. S. Ge and H. Ye. Beijing: Chemistry Industry Press.
Leech, C., D. Lockington, and P. Dux. 2003. “Unsaturated diffusivity functions for concrete derived from NMR images.” Mater. Struct. 36 (6): 413–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02481067.
Li, C. 2009. “Study on water and ionic transport processes in cover concrete under drying-wetting cycles.” Ph.D. thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Tsinghua Univ.
Li, C., K. Li, and Z. Chen. 2008. “Numerical analysis of moisture influential depth in concrete and its application in durability design.” Tsinghua Sci. Technol. 13 (S1): 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1007-0214(08)70119-6.
Li, K., C. Li, and Z. Chen. 2009. “Influential depth of moisture transport in concrete subject to drying–wetting cycles.” Cem. Concr. Compos. 31 (10): 693–698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2009.08.006.
Li, X., S. Chen, Q. Xu, and Y. Xu. 2017. “Modeling the three-dimensional unsaturated water transport in concrete at the mesoscale.” Comput. Struct. 190: 61–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruc.2017.05.005.
Lindgård, J., E. J. Sellevold, M. D. A. Thomas, B. Pedersen, H. Justnes, and T. F. Rønning. 2013. “Alkali–silica reaction (ASR)–performance testing: Influence of specimen pre-treatment, exposure conditions and prism size on concrete porosity, moisture state and transport properties.” Cem. Concr. Res. 53: 145–167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2013.05.020.
Liu, P. 2013. “Research on similarity of the chloride ingress in concrete under natural and artificial simulation environment.” Ph.D. thesis, School of Civil Engineering, Central South Univ.
Lockington, D., J.-Y. Parlange, and P. Dux. 1999. “Sorptivity and the estimation of water penetration into unsaturated concrete.” Mater. Struct. 32 (219): 342–347. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02479625.
MHURD (Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development of the People’s Republic of China). 2002. Standard for test method of mechanical properties on ordinary concrete. T 0553-2005. Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press.
MOT (Ministry of Transport of the People’s Republic of China). 2005. Standard test method for compressive strength of cubical concrete specimens. GB/T 0553-2005. Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press.
RIOH (Research Institute of Highway Ministry of Transport). 2005. Test methods of cement and concrete for highway engineering. JTGE 30-2005. Beijing: China Communications Press.
Sahmaran, M., T. K. Erdem, and I. O. Yaman. 2007. “Sulfate resistance of plain and blended cements exposed to wetting–drying and heating–cooling environments.” Constr. Build. Mater. 21 (8): 1771–1778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2006.05.012.
Shokri, N., P. Lehmann, and D. Or. 2009. “Characteristics of evaporation from partially wettable porous media.” Water Resour. Res. 45 (2): 142–143. https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR007185.
Strandberg-de Bruijn, P., and P. Johansson. 2014. “Moisture transport properties of lime–hemp concrete determined over the complete moisture range.” Biosyst. Eng. 122: 31–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2014.03.001.
Tixier, R., and B. Mobasher. 2003. “Modeling of damage in cement-based materials subjected to external sulfate attack. I: Formulation.” J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 15 (4): 305–313. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)0899-1561(2003)15:4(305).
van Brakel, J. 1980. “Mass transfer in convective drying.” In Advances in drying. Vol. 1, edited by A. S. Mujumdar, 217–267. Philadelphia: Taylor & Francis.
Van den Heede, P., E. Gruyaert, and N. De Belie. 2010. “Transport properties of high-volume fly ash concrete: Capillary water sorption, water sorption under vacuum and gas permeability.” Cem. Concr. Compos. 32 (10): 749–756. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2010.08.006.
Wang, Z. K. 2005. Chemical engineering principles. Beijing: Chemistry Industry Press.
Whiteman, W. G. 1923. “A preliminary experimental confirmation of the two-film theory of gas absorption.” Chem. Metall. Eng. 29 (4): 146–148.
Zhang, H. Q., and M. J. Lu. 2006. Principles of chemical engineering. Beijing: Chemistry Industry Press.
Zhou, C., K. Li, and F. Ma. 2014. “Numerical and statistical analysis of elastic modulus of concrete as a three-phase heterogeneous composite.” Comput. Struct. 139: 33–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruc.2014.04.007.
Zhou, C., F. Ren, Z. Wang, W. Chen, and W. Wang. 2017. “Why permeability to water is anomalously lower than that to many other fluids for cement-based material?” Cem. Concr. Res. 100: 373–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconres.2017.08.002.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 30 • Issue 11 • November 2018
Copyright
©2018 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 14, 2017
Accepted: Mar 28, 2018
Published online: Aug 16, 2018
Published in print: Nov 1, 2018
Discussion open until: Jan 16, 2019
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.