Dual permeability modelling of concrete joints

• Published in: Construction & building materials 2021-10, Vol.302, p.124090, Article 124090
• Main Authors: Görtz, J., Wieprecht, S., Terheiden, K.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Concrete; Dual permeability; Joint; Moisture; Permeability
• ISSN: 0950-0618; 1879-0526
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.124090

•Measurement of the hydraulic conductivity of concrete joints of historic structures.•Description of modelling material joints with a dual permeability model.•Evaluation of reduction of mesh dependency to model moisture ingress in joints.•Verification of the model for concrete joints of large dams. In the case of concrete structures, moisture ingress can induce deterioration of the material weakening the structure. Changes in the hydraulic material properties control the flow speed and flow duration and thus the intensity of deterioration processes. As many concrete structures like dams are built within multiple construction steps characteristic joints are formed at the interfaces. The influence of construction and expansion joints on moisture transport is measured and quantified in this study. A dual permeability based moisture modeling approach is presented in order to describe the moisture transport characteristics of these joints with an efficient numerical solution. It is shown that the presented approach is in good agreement with the measured data even for a coarse mesh. Therefore, it is particularly well suited for modeling the moisture distribution in larger structures.