Enhanced modeling of moisture equilibrium and transport in cementitious materials under arbitrary temperature and relative humidity history

This paper focuses on behaviors of moisture dispersed in nano-macro scale pores under various temperature and relative humidity conditions. The authors formulated an equilibrium relationship between liquid and vapor phases and a moisture flux driven by pore pressure, vapor pressure and temperature gradients. In addition, liquid and interlayer water were measured separately by ethanol in order to reveal each temperature sensitivity in saturation-humidity paths. Based on the experiments, a modified hysteresis model for moisture isotherm was proposed. Verifications with experimental data showed that the proposed method can simulate moisture behaviors under various temperature conditions. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.