The carbonation of concrete and the mechanism of moisture, heat and carbon dioxide flow through porous materials

The governing equations of moisture, heat and carbon dioxide flows through concrete within the framework of a distributed parameter model are described. The coupling terms and the non-linearity of the problem are taken into account and a numerical procedure based on the finite element method is developed to solve the set of equations. The influence of relative humidity and temperature is investigated and typical results are presented. Comparisons with experimental tests are also carried out and one example is presented in detail in order to show the reliability and the effectiveness of the proposed numerical model