2006 Volume 46 Issue 5 Pages 653-663
A multi-phase physicochemical method for simulating the durability of cementitious composites is used to predict the long-term degradation of underground concrete and cemented soil by calcium leaching. The objective is to develop a unified approach that can be used for both cemented soils and concrete. This paper describes a computational model based on physicochemical thermodynamics that can calculate the voids of micron-to-millimeter scale in soil foundations as well as the gel and capillary pores of nanometer-to-micron scale in cement paste. The proposed model shows that the soil-structure interaction of calcium-leaching transport and underground water advection are very important when assessing long-term durability of cementitious composites.
