Numerical analysis of moisture influential depth in concrete and its application in durability design

Determining the moisture influential depth in concrete under drying-wetting cycles is of great interest for investigation of chloride ion transport and thus the initiation of reinforcement corrosion. In this paper, the moisture transport processes during drying and wetting are modeled by diffusion and absorption. A predictor-corrector implicit scheme of finite difference method is used to solve the partial differential equations. The stability of moisture influential depth is then analyzed with the available numerical tool for both initially saturate and unsaturated concretes. The concept of equilibrium time ratio is proposed for drying-wetting cycles by the balance between water loss and intake during drying and wetting. According to this time ratio, drying-wetting cycles are classified into drying-dominated, wetting-dominated, and equilibrium ones. For drying-dominated cycles, the drying front will penetrate gradually into material while the influential depth is determined by wetting; for wetting-dominated cycles, the wetting front will progress into material while the influential depth is determined by drying. This classification has strong engineering implication and can give a more rational division of convection and diffusion zones of chloride ion transport. The case of concrete in marine splash zone is investigated to illustrate the application of influential depth in durability design of concrete structures.