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A Numerical Study of Moisture and Ionic Transport in Unsaturated Concrete by Considering Multi-ions Coupling Effect

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Abstract

Understanding the transport mechanisms within unsaturated porous media is essential to the durability problems associated with cement-based materials. However, the involvement of multi-ions electrochemical coupling effect, especially under unsaturated condition makes the transport mechanisms even more complex. In this study, the moisture and multi-ionic transport in unsaturated concrete have been modeled in three-dimensional cases. The contribution from both water vapor and liquid has been considered in moisture transport. By adopting the constitutive electrochemical law, the electrostatic potential induced by inherent charge imbalance was calculated. With parameter calibration, the numerical results agreed well with the experimental data, proving the validity of the presented model. Results from a parametric analysis showed that neglecting multi-ions coupling effect will lead to an underestimated chloride concentration, and saturated degree has an obvious impact on the coupling strength among different ions. In addition, the existence of coarse aggregates will not only block mass transport but also make the discrepancies between two-dimensional model and three-dimensional model results more obvious. Other findings which have not been reported in existing studies are also highlighted.

Article Highlights

  • The coupled moisture and multi-ionic transport process has been modeled in three dimensions for the first time.

  • The anomalous moisture transport has been considered by time-dependent water permeability.

  • The higher saturation degree has been found to amplify the multi-ions coupling intensity in porous media.

  • The model heterogeneity and dimension should be properly considered to obtain more accurate numerical result.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (51978396, 52222805), the Natural Science Foundation of Shanghai, China (22ZR1431400), and the Oceanic Interdisciplinary Program of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (SL2021MS016).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Ocean Engineering, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean and Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

    Zhaozheng Meng, Wei-kang Chen, Qing Xiang Xiong, Cheng-lin Zhang & Qing-feng Liu

  2. Shanghai Key Laboratory for Digital Maintenance of Buildings and Infrastructure, Shanghai, China

    Zhaozheng Meng, Wei-kang Chen, Qing Xiang Xiong, Cheng-lin Zhang & Qing-feng Liu

  3. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Macau, Macau, China

    Yufei Zhang

  4. College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China

    Chuan-qing Fu

  5. Microlab, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CN, Delft, The Netherlands

    Zhaozheng Meng

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  1. Zhaozheng Meng
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Meng, Z., Zhang, Y., Chen, Wk. et al. A Numerical Study of Moisture and Ionic Transport in Unsaturated Concrete by Considering Multi-ions Coupling Effect. Transp Porous Med 151, 339–366 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11242-023-02011-6

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