Modeling of diffusion-reaction behavior of sulfate ion in concrete under sulfate environments

This paper estimates theoretically the diffusion-reaction behaviour of sulfate ion in concrete caused by environmental sulfate attack. Based on Fick's second law and chemical reaction kinetics, a nonlinear and nonsteady diffusion-reaction equation of sulfate ion in concrete, in which the variable diffusion coefficient and the chemical reactions depleting sulfate ion concentration in concrete are considered, is proposed. The finite difference method is utilized to solve the diffusion-reaction equation of sulfate ion in concrete, and then it is used to simulate the diffusion-reaction process and the concentration distribution of sulfate ion in concrete. Afterwards, the experiments for measuring the sulfate ion concentration in concrete are carried out by using EDTA method to verify the proposal model, and results show that the proposed model is basically in agreement with the experimental results. Finally, Numerical example has been completed to investigate the diffusion-reaction behavior of sulfate ion in the concrete plate specimen immersed into sulfate solution.