Mesoscale modeling of water penetration into concrete by capillary absorption

Water penetration into concrete by capillary absorption plays a very important role in the ingress of contaminative substances when the structures are built in aggressive environments. In the present paper the lattice network model is proposed based on the unsaturated flow theory to predict the water penetration into concrete. On the mesocale level, concrete is treated as a three-phase composite. By means of the Voronoi diagram meshing strategy, the lattice network model of concrete with different types of lattice elements is developed. The corresponding transport properties are assigned to the lattice elements in the network falling in different phases. As a result, the lattice elements are idealized as conductive “pipes” in which uni-directional flow can be realized between the two nodes of the elements. Parameters in the lattice network model, such as the sorptivity and porosity of the mortar and the ITZs are quantitatively determined. With help of the approach, the water content distribution within a concrete sample after any elapsed time, especially the penetration depth of water frontier, can be easily predicted. The cumulative water absorption calculated by the lattice network model is shown to be well agreed with the experimental results.