Modeling the Chlorides Transport in Cementitious Materials By Periodic Homogenization

In this work, we develop a macroscopic model for diffusion-migration of ionic species in saturated porous media, based on periodic homogenization. The prior application is chloride transport in cementitious materials. The dimensional analysis of Nernst-Planck equation lets appear dimensionless numbers characterizing the ionic transfer in porous media. Using experimental data, these dimensionless numbers are linked to the perturbation parameter e. For a weak-imposed electrical field, or in natural diffusion, the asymptotic expansion of Nernst-Planck equation leads to a macroscopic model coupling diffusion and migration at the same order. The expression of the homogenized diffusion coefficient only involves the geometrical properties of the material microstructure. Then, parametric simulations are performed to compute the chloride diffusion coefficient through different complexity of the elementary cell to go on as close as possible to experimental diffusion coefficient of the two cement pastes tested.