Numerical Analysis of the Freezing Behavior of Saturated Cementitious Materials with Different Amounts of Chloride

The freezing behavior of cement paste saturated with different chloride concentrations is investigated numerically with a coupled 3D hygro-thermo-mechanical FE analysis. The mathematical formulation of the freezing processes in the context of poromechanics takes into account the water (hydraulic) and ice pore pressures, as well as the distribution of heat (temperature) and strains. These quantities are calculated numerically based on three coupled differential equations, namely the static equilibrium equation and the equations for the transport of water and heat. The coupling between the mechanical (loading) and the non-mechanical processes (freezing) is performed using a staggered solution scheme. The proposed numerical approach is first validated using numerical and experimental studies from the literature dealing with two different cement pastes saturated with different amounts of chloride. The validated model is then used to investigate the effects of liquid water permeability, total porosity and pore size distribution on the freezing behavior of hardened cement paste. The results show that liquid water permeability has a strong effect on the pore pressure and deformation of the hardened cement paste. It is also shown that by decreasing the total porosity, the material becomes denser and contracts more as the temperature decreases, leading to a decrease in freezing strain. The results of this paper will provide important findings for the development of a simplified engineering model to investigate the mechanism that leads to freeze–thaw salt-induced damage to concrete structures in the framework of the DFG-funded research project.