FINITE-ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF ALKALI-AGGREGA TE REACTIONS IN STRUCTURE MODELING OF CONCRETE

Alkali-aggregate reactions are internal physico-chemical processes whi ch can induce expansion and cracking in concrete structures. The mecha nisms of these reactions arecomplicated and imperfectly under stood. I n attempting to describe the durability of concrete, physico-chemical and mechanical processes may be taken into account by the use of the t hermodynamics of in eversible processes. Such an approach is not suffi cient, however, because of the random distribution of the reactive sit es. A numerical model based on finite element analysis is put forward to aid evaluation.