Modeling and computational homogenization of chloride diffusion in three-phase meso-scale concrete

A computational homogenization technique for modeling diffusion in concrete is introduced with emphasis on the influence of aggregate content and variability. The highly heterogeneous material investigated different scales by combining Variationally Consistent Homogenization numerical microstructures analytical techniques accounting lower, unresolved, length scales. structure consists cement paste, embedded aggregates, Interfacial Transition Zone (ITZ) between two. Diffusion takes place phase, as well ITZ. Since thickness ITZ is, typically, much smaller than diameter effect can be modelled a surface transport around aggregates. occurrence sizes described via Particle Size Distribution given sieve curves, design codes. curve split into two parts. aggregates homogenized analytically using mixture rule. This results an effective matrix consisting paste Synthetic structures are then generated numerically to account larger At first, dense sphere packing created based Distribution. information used generate weighted Voronoi diagram, which modified shrinking process. procedure allows us create periodic Representative Volume Elements investigations. overall diffusivity evaluated upon Homogenization, context Finite Element analysis, RVEs compared experimental data. It found that, depending Distribution, has large properties.