3D meso-scale simulation of chloride ion transportation in cracked concrete considering aggregate morphology. (4th April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zheng, Bin; Li, Tongchun; Qi, Huijun; Gao, Lingang; Liu, Xiaoqing; Yuan, Li
• Is Part Of: Construction & building materials. Volume 326(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-04-04
• Subjects: meso-scale concrete -- Spherical harmonic -- Aggregate morphological features -- Three-dimensional crack -- Chloride transportation; Building materials -- Periodicals; 624.18
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2022.126632
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0950-0618

Abstract

Abstract: Many experimental and numerical studies have been conducted to explain chloride ion penetration in concrete including aggregates, ITZ and mortar. To my best knowledge, there are few devotion on the relationship between three-dimensional real cracks and chloride ion transportation. Based on spherical harmonic theory, reconstruct the particle generated from smoothing Voronoi polyhedron cell by Loop subdivision to simulate the morphology of real aggregate, and this process performs relatively good efficiency in generating sets of concrete model with different features (mainly aggregate volume fraction, fractal dimension). Consequently, a novel method of representing crack characteristics based on spherical harmonic theory is proposed for analysis, construct a bridge between aggregate morphology and crack characteristics. In view of chloride penetration depth, crack changes the profiles significantly, which accounts for the phenomenon that the existence of crack makes statistical results of chloride concentration on different cross-sections of models fit well with bimodal Gaussian distribution. Volume fraction and morphology of aggregates are mainly correlated to decline rate of gap between chloride concentration of region near crack and the remaining. Both are meaningful for further predict the time to corrosion initiation in reinforced concrete structures in marine environment. Graphical abstract: Highlights: A 3D mesoscopic concrete modeling can mathematically describe morphological features of aggregates. A novel method describing crack by fractal dimension avoids too many parameters. Quantitatively describe relation between features of aggregates and concentration of chloride ions in cracked concrete.