Effects of temperature gradients on moisture and salt transport in concrete structures.

Resumo

In maritime zones, with high salt íons incidence, the concrete structures corrosion frequently occurs.
The salt mist is full of salt ions and can be transported by de wind until the civil constructions, penetrating in its
pores. These ions can accelerate the deterioration of steel reinforcement and concentrate in some points,
crystallizing, and increasing the intern pressure until the concrete breaks creating fissures and cracks, becoming
more susceptible to others deterioration factors. Thereby, in this study, the heat, moisture and salt transport were
modelled to a concrete block reached by ions chloride (Cl-) salt mist. The conservation equations were discretized
in finite volumes, being solved in attached form, using the MTDMA (MultiTriDiagonal-Matrix Algorithm).
Comparations using the isothermal and non-isothermal conditions were made, and the results showed the big
influence of the temperature gradients in determination of the concentration of moisture and salt through the
sample.