Self-Consistent Channel Approach for Upscaling Chloride Diffusivity in Cement Pastes

Chloride ingress into concrete is a major cause for material degradation, such as cracking due to corrosion-induced steel reinforcement expansion. Corresponding transport processes encompass diffusion, convection, and migration, and their mathematical quantification as a function of the concrete composition remains an unrevealed enigma. Approaching the problem step by step, we here concentrate on the diffusivity of cement paste, and how it follows from the microstructural features of the material and from the chloride diffusivity in the capillary pore spaces. For this purpose, we employ advanced self-consistent homogenization theory as recently used for permeability upscaling, based on the resolution of the pore space as pore channels being oriented in all space directions, resulting in a quite compact analytical relation between porosity, pore diffusivity, and the overall diffusivity of the cement paste. This relation is supported by experiments and reconfirms the pivotal role that layered water most probably plays for the reduction of the pore diffusivity, with respect to the diffusivity found under the chemical condition of a bulk solution.