Numerical Investigation of Sulfate Diffusion Characteristics in Recycled Aggregate Concrete Based on Mesoscale Multiphase Analysis
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35, Issue 7
Abstract
Sulfate-induced deterioration can reduce the service life of recycled aggregate concrete (RAC). To demonstrate the transport behavior of sulfate ions in RAC, a two-dimensional, six-phase numerical model of RAC is proposed in this study. Sulfate ion diffusion coefficients were defined for different phases [attached mortar, new mortar, interfacial transition zone (ITZ) between attached mortar and original aggregate, ITZ between the new mortar and original aggregate, and ITZ between the new mortar and attached mortar] of RAC. The effects of ITZ width and porosity on ion transport behavior in RAC were analyzed. The results show that the numerical model agrees with the experimental data. Numerical results indicate that the six-phase model of RAC provides more-accurate simulation results because tortuosity is reflected in the model. The width and porosity of ITZs both affect the diffusion of sulfate ions in concrete. However, due to the low volume fraction of ITZ in concrete, just improving ITZ performance has no significant effect on ion attack resistance of concrete. The ITZ is a crucial zone where damage may originate and develop.
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Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Yitong Min of Southeast University for his help in programming. The authors also thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions concerning the manuscript. This work was supported by the Basic Public Welfare Research Program of Zhejiang Province (No. LY20E080015), the Natural Science Foundation of Shaanxi Province (No. 2022JM-209), and the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LQ22E080011).
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 35 • Issue 7 • July 2023
Copyright
© 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 6, 2022
Accepted: Nov 3, 2022
Published online: Apr 22, 2023
Published in print: Jul 1, 2023
Discussion open until: Sep 22, 2023
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