A multi-scale method for modeling of moisture and chloride ion transport in concrete

Other conference contribution, 2011

Modelling and simulation of moisture and chloride ion transport in concrete is carried out using a multi-scale approach due to the strongly heterogeneous structure of concrete. The macro-scale problem is solved using the finite element method (FEM) where the material response in each Gauss-point is obtained by setting up a new finite element problem on a representative volume element (RVE). The RVE, in turn, consists of the meso-scale constituents of concrete and the solution to the RVE problem is homogenized and sent back to the macro-scale domain. Hence, the RVE problem serves in this fashion as a constitutive model for the macro-scale problem.