ABSTRACT
Earlier chapters show how the moisture state of brick, stone and concrete can be characterized, primarily though the water content, the hydraulic potential and the porosity. These quantities appear as essential variables in the analysis of water transport. However the moisture state of these materials also underlies other processes and phenomena in materials. We discuss the trapping of air during capillary imbibition, its slow release by diffusion and the secondary soptivity property; moisture expansion in clay brick; water reten- tion and dewatering in slurries and wet mixes, and related practical problems; and water transport in freeze-thaw damage.
