ABSTRACT
This paper presents a two-dimensional lattice-based model to simulate chloride transport process in cracked-unsaturated concrete by means of convection-diffusion transport mechanism. The mesoscale computational method, in which concrete is modeled as a composite of impermeable coarse aggregate embedded in the porous matrix separated by vulnerable interfacial transition zone, is adopted. The partial differential equations of water and chloride transport are solved. Compared with the available findings from the literature, the transport coefficients of water and chloride through a single crack treated as a parallel-plate configuration are developed and validated. The numerical prediction of water and chloride ingress into cracked-unsaturated concrete subjected to drying-wetting (D/W) cycles was conducted to investigate the effect of D/W cycles on the mass content distribution by lattice-based numerical simulation. The results indicated that the computational method based on the mesoscale lattice model is able to well represent the water and chloride movement within cracked-unsaturated concrete.
