Simulating water penetration in cementitious materials using pore structures from mercury intrusion porosimetry

• Published in: Case Studies in Construction Materials Vol. 22; p. e04492
• Main Author: Sakai, Yuya
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2025
• Subjects: Concrete; Damage; Interfacial transition zone; Mercury intrusion porosimetry; Microcrack; Simulation; Tortuosity; Water penetration; Microcrack; Simulation; Tortuosity; Mercury intrusion porosimetry; Water penetration; Concrete; Damage; Interfacial transition zone
• ISSN: 2214-5095; 2214-5095
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cscm.2025.e04492

Liquid water penetration is an important factor affecting the lifespan of concrete structures, as it causes various forms of deterioration, such as frost damage and rebar corrosion. Despite its significance, the relationship between pore structure and water penetration remains poorly understood, and a practical method for estimating the water penetration rate in existing concrete structures has yet to be developed. This study presents a method for estimating water penetration into cementitious materials through a simple numerical calculation based on pore-size distribution, as evaluated by mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), under the assumption of a simple cubic lattice. The simulation results generally underestimated the experimental results, likely due to unaccounted factors such as differences in coordination numbers and the presence of gravel. It was found that considering a fixed tortuosity improved the simulation results, achieving quantitative agreement with experimental data, indicating that water permeability can be estimated quantitatively based on MIP results. However, it was found that certain experimental results were independent of porosity, a trend the simulation failed to reproduce. This discrepancy may arise from the substantial role of localised paths, such as interfacial transition zones or microcracks, in water penetration within these samples. As MIP provides only averaged pore structure information, detecting such localised pathways and estimating the water penetration rate in these cases remain subjects for future research.