Sorption and transport in cementitious materials

In the MOOC: “Cement chemistry and sustainable cementitious materials”; you learned how to create more sustainable cementitious materials.

But concrete is not an inert rock. It is a dynamic porous material, which can exchange water, gas and ions with its environment. Through physical and chemical interactions, these exchanges can have dramatic consequences: cracks due to shrinkage, reinforcement bars corrosion, spalling, …

For a true sustainability, the durability of cementitious materials should not be forgotten. In this course, we will learn how to study and improve the durability of cementitious materials, to ensure that the cement industry can truly reduce its CO2 emissions.

• Describe sorption and transport in porous materials
• Describe the interactions of water and the cementitious material
• Understand the common mechanisms of rebars corrosion
• Understand how numerical methods can be used to study cementitious materials
• Analyze the current state of the art research in the durability of cementitious materials
• Evaluate experimental and numerical methods to analyze durability issues

The course is structured into 6 weeks of about one to two-hour lectures:

1. Fluid in porous media
2. Numerical methods - microscopic to macroscopic
3. The water sorption cycle in cementitious materials
4. Water transport in cementitious materials
5. Chloride ingress
6. Carbonation