Coupled hygrothermal, electrochemical, and mechanical modelling for deterioration prediction in reinforced cementitious materials

In this paper a coupled hygrothermal, electrochemical, and mechanical modelling approach for the deterioration prediction in cementitious materials is briefly outlined. Deterioration prediction is thereby based on coupled modelling of (i) chemical processes including among others transport of heat and matter as well as phase assemblage on the nano and micro scale, (ii) corrosion of steel including electrochemical processes at the reinforcement surface, and (iii) material performance including corrosion- and load-induced damages on the meso and macro scale. The individual FEM models are fully coupled, i.e. information, such as such as corrosion current density, damage state of concrete cover, etc., are constantly exchanged between the models