A coupled hydro-chemo-mechanical approach to model the degradation and appearance of cracks in cementitious materials subject to carbonation

A coupled hydro-chemo-mechanical approach to model the degradation and appearance of cracks in cementitious materials subject to carbonation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article A coupled hydro-chemo-mechanical approach to model the degradation and appearance of cracks in cementitious materials subject to carbonation Nicolas Seigneur, Adrien Socié, Benoit Bary, Stéphane Poyet, Gaëtan Touzé This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2599953/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Jul, 2023 Read the published version in npj Materials Degradation → Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Coupled Thermal-Hydraulic-Mechanical-Chemical (THMC) approaches are crucial for assessing the durability of cementitious materials. We present a novel approach to overcome past limitations of THMC modelling and validate it based on experimental results of accelerated carbonation tests. Our numerical approach rests on a sequential coupling between Hytec and Cast3M. Hytec computes the evolution of hydraulic and mineralogical fields allowing to compute the micromechanical properties (e.g. Young modulus). The mineral reactions generate tensile stresses and Cast3M computes the associated strain tensors and the damage evolution represented by the opening or sealing of cracks, impacting subsequent reactive transport processes. Our approach manages to reproduce the crack patterns and non-uniform degradation depths observed on microtomographic images of carbonated cement samples, which can only be explained by the coupled dynamics of chemical and mechanical processes. Our approach can be extended to a wide range of cement-concrete pathologies and contexts. Physical sciences/Materials science/Theory and computation/Computational methods Physical sciences/Engineering/Chemical engineering thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical modelling material durability concrete damage model cement carbonation multiphase reactive transport modelling poromechanics Full Text Additional Declarations (Not answered) Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 27 Jul, 2023 Read the published version in npj Materials Degradation → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: revise 12 Apr, 2023 Review # 2 received at journal 11 Apr, 2023 Review # 1 received at journal 14 Mar, 2023 Reviewer # 2 agreed at journal 14 Mar, 2023 Reviewer # 1 agreed at journal 28 Feb, 2023 Reviewers invited by journal 27 Feb, 2023 Editor assigned by journal 27 Feb, 2023 Submission checks completed at journal 27 Feb, 2023 First submitted to journal 25 Feb, 2023 Unknown event 23 Feb, 2023 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2599953","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":179323708,"identity":"5a67581f-6ae3-4557-9728-95add91d000c","order_by":0,"name":"Nicolas 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