DURABILITY OF CONCRETE - THE CROSSROAD BETWEEN CHEMISTRY AND MECHANICS

The evaluation of the durability of concrete in severe environments is a real challenge for civil engineers. In order to simulate the behavi our and evolution of the cement paste with time, designers need sophis ticated models coupling chemistry, physics, and mechanics. Chemistry a nd physics give the evolution of the material submitted to different a ttacks such as the alkali-aggregate reaction. Mechanics gives the beha viour of the material in terms of stress and strain. It is a complex p roblem because it exists on different scales in the material, i.e., th e microstructural level for the diffusion of chemical species, the mac rostructural level for cracks and damage. On the other hand, the heter ogeneity of the material provides another problem and implies the use of probabilities. Based on some examples, different models and results are given to show the interest of such an approach. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.