Modeling of alkali-silica reaction in concrete: a review

Abstract

This paper presents a comprehensive review of modeling of alkali-silica reaction (ASR) in concrete. Such modeling is essential for investigating the chemical expansion mechanism and the subsequent influence on the mechanical aspects of the material. The concept of ASR and the mechanism of expansion are first outlined, and the state-of-the-art of modeling for ASR, the focus of the paper, is then presented in detail. The modeling includes theoretical approaches, meso- and macroscopic models for ASR analysis. The theoretical approaches dealt with the chemical reaction mechanism and were used for predicting pessimum size of aggregate. Mesoscopic models have attempted to explain the mechanism of mechanical deterioration of ASR-affected concrete at material scale. The macroscopic models, chemo-mechanical coupling models, have been generally developed by combining the chemical reaction kinetics with linear or nonlinear mechanical constitutive, and were applied to reproduce and predict the long-term behavior of structures suffering from ASR. Finally, a conclusion and discussion of the modeling are given.

Keywords

alkali-silica reaction (ASR) / modeling / concrete / mesoscopic / macroscopic

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the support of the National Key Basic Research Program of China (Nos. 2010CB731504 and 2011CB013602) and the research funding from the State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University (No. 2010-TC-1).

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