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Simulation of spatially non-uniform frost damage in RC beams under various

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DOI: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.09.044

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 Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Engineering Structures
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/engstruct

Simulation of spatially non-uniform frost damage in RC beams under various T

exposure and confining conditions
Fuyuan Gonga, , Mingqian Renb, Koichi Maekawac
⁎

a
Institute of Advanced Sciences, Yokohama National University, Japan
b
Department of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, China
c
Department of Urban Innovation, Yokohama National University, Japan

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: This paper aims to investigate the spatially non-uniform frost damage process in RC beams during large numbers
Non-uniform frost damage of freeze/thaw cycles (FTC). The material-based thermodynamic and poromechanical frost damage models have
RC beam been up-scaled to the structural level considering the anisotropic stress-strain conditions and the condensed
Path-dependent deformation water movement in the crack system. The ice-induced pore pressures are also integrated in the smeared RC
Multi-scale modeling
element in consideration of the path-dependent nonlinear constitutive laws. The frost damage accumulation
processes (referred as the expansive strain) are simulated with different depths of heat and moisture exposure, as
well as various arrangements of reinforcing bars. Based on the proposed empirical model which links the ex-
pansive strain with the reduction in ultrasonic velocity, the 3D frost damage profiles are compared with 2D
ultrasonic velocity data, which show a satisfactory agreement. Finally, the effects of different steel and structural
confinements on the frost damage profile are numerically investigated and discussed in detail.

1. Introduction
Frost damage is a common deteriorating impact to the concrete
structures in cold and wet regions, which will cause serious durability
problems and waste lots of resources for maintenance and repairing.
The frost damage mechanisms have been well investigated in the past
decades, from physical, thermodynamic and poromechanical aspects.
For example, the source of frost damage owns to the internal pore
pressures during ice freezing and thawing, such as the hydraulic pres-
sure [1,2], crystallization pressure (or disjoining pressure) and cryo-
suction pressure [3–6]. The deformation of porous material is also as-
sociated with coupled heat and water transport considering phase
change kinetics [7,8]. More macroscopically speaking, the moisture
condition is essential to obtain damage and there is a critical degree of
saturation [9,10]. Besides, during large number of freeze-thaw cycles
(FTC), the additional water supply is necessary for continuous damage
accumulation [11–13]. Based on the damage mechanisms, some prac-
tical models have also been proposed to estimate the long-term dete-
rioration process during large numbers of FTC [13,14]. The afore-
mentioned models are able to describe the material-level behavior
whose temperature and moisture conditions are rather uniform, but
when it comes to the structural level such as beam, column and slab, the
non-uniformity of temperature and moisture becomes essential to the
frost damage process. In addition, for reinforced concrete (RC) struc-
tures, the structural confinement and rebar confinement should also be
taken into consideration.
The previous frost tests on the RC members/structures mainly fo-
cused on the reduction of residual capacities after cyclic freeze-thaw
damage, see for example [15–18]. However, the path-dependent pro-
cess of frost deterioration itself is still lack of study at structural level.
Similar problems come to the simulation works as well, that the ma-
terial properties (e.g. strength, stiffness, fracture energy, ductility, etc.)
affected by frost damage must be empirically evaluated first, and then
used as the initial input parameters to simulate the structural me-
chanical performance [17,19–21]. Thus, these models are usually lim-
ited in the flexibility for various environmental conditions and frost
deterioration history.
Considering the fact that frost damage at structural level contains
both the macroscopic issues (size and shape of structures, temperature
and moisture distribution, rebar arrangement, boundary conditions,
etc.) and the microscopic events (local ice formation, poromechanical
equilibrium, water transport through pores and cracks, etc.), a multi-
scale simulation scheme has been proposed by the authors [22,23].
First, the microstructure of cement paste can be quantified considering
various mixing and curing parameters [23,24]. Then the phase-equili-
brium of pore water under freezing temperatures can be determined

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: gongfy07@gmail.com (F. Gong).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.09.044
Received 19 June 2018; Received in revised form 14 September 2018; Accepted 16 September 2018
0141-0296/ © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
F. Gong et al.
based on thermodynamics. Finally, the deformation and damage of
concrete are modelled through a poromechanical approach, considering
the nonlinear constitutive laws of cracked reinforced concrete [25]. The
movement of condensed water is also calculated according to the
pressure gradient, which plays an essential role in the long-term frost
damage accumulation.
The clarification of frost damage process itself at structural level is
still a tough problem, both experimentally and numerically. Some non-
destructive measurements have been used in past studies, such as the
measurement of relative dynamic elastic modulus (RDEM) [21] and
ultrasonic velocity [26]. But those methods are just for rough estima-
tion, which usually provides one-dimensional or at most two-dimen-
sional mapping. As an alternative way, the numerical simulation may
provide a clearer path-dependency of frost damage accumulation. In
reality, the simulated damage profile (usually referred as the expansive
strain) cannot be directly compared with the non-destructive mea-
surement data. Thus, a link between those indexes is necessary.
In this paper, the multi-scale integrated model for frost damage
accumulation process will be briefly introduced first, then the path-
dependent frost damaging of 3D extent will be simulated for RC beams
with different temperature and moisture boundary conditions. In ad-
dition, based on the numerical test and experimental data, an empirical
model is developed to convert the simulated 3D deformation profile
into 2D ultrasonic velocity map, which can be verified by the experi-
mental measurements. At last, the effects of different rebar confining
conditions are numerically investigated and discussed.
2. Summary of numerical models
2.1. Pressure models during ice formation
The pore pressures generated by frost action are based on several
well-accepted frost damage theories [1–6]. The hydraulic pore pressure
(phydrau) is caused by the volume expansion when water freezes to ice,
mainly in the pore system of cement paste. Around the entrained/en-
trapped air bubbles, a hydraulic pressure gradient will be generated
along the radial direction [1] to drive the unfrozen water into the
central air. Then if the average distance between air bubbles is small
enough (e.g. enough air-entrained agent is used), the hydraulic pore
pressure can be limited within the tensile strength of concrete matrix so
that damage can be avoided. On the contrary, if the distance is too
large, the magnitude of hydraulic pressure increases drastically.
Meanwhile, the poromechanical equilibrium between expanded ice and
concrete matrix become more dominant [4,6]. In addition, when the
expansion of concrete matrix exceeds its tensile capacity, crack occurs
and the matrix behaves plastically. Finally, the other two pressures,
crystallization and cryosuction pressures mainly reply on the tem-
perature and pore size due to thermodynamic equilibrium [3]. Al-
though there are many comprehensive models considering the coupled
thermo-, hygro-, micromechanical and poromechanical events
[7,8,27–29], for the simplicity of structural simulation, three kind of
pore pressures can be expressed briefly as follows:
0.09 C
phydrau = · f (Sr , k 0, p. ..)
C / K C + L / KL (1)
pcryo = L· Sfv T (2)
pcryst = C ·(1 ) Sfv T (3)
where p is the pressure in pores with the subscripts h, l, c representing
hydraulic, crysuction and crystallization pressures, respectively;
KC ≈ 8.8 GPa and KL ≈ 2.2 GPa are the bulk moduli of ice and water;
ΨC and ΨL are saturation ratios of ice and liquid water; 0 ≤ f
(Sr,k0,εp…) ≤ 1 is a reduction factor depending on several parameters
(degree of saturation Sr, permeability k0, skeleton deformation εp and so
on); ΔSfv ≈ 1.2 J/cm3⋅K is the molar entropy of fusion; λ is the pore
860
Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870
shape factor defined in [30]; ΔT ≤ 0 is the temperature in Celsius, and
when temperature is above 0 °C, pcryo and pcrystl become zero. Eqs.
(1)–(3) only describe the stress-free condition without out confinement
and damage. For the RC structural analysis, both anisotropic loading
and confining conditions should be taken into consideration, which will
also lead to the anisotropy in the hydraulic pressure (as formulated in
the next section). Besides, the damage and nonlinear deformation
usually happen in a larger scale, thus will be formulated in the next
section as well. The cryosuction and crystallization pressures are ther-
modynamically created forces and act at microscale level, thus they can
be treated as eigenstress regardless of poromechanical deformation.
2.2. Poromechanical modeling of coupled deformation and water transport
The governing equations of the coupled deformation and water
transport has been discussed in previous studies [23,31,32]. For the
coupling effect during freeze-thaw cycles, the detailed formulation has
been presented in previous studies [22], here just a brief summary is
shown.
Similar with the “principle of effective stress” in soil mechanics, the
total stress (σij) equals to the effective stress on the concrete skeleton
( ij ) plus the internal pore stress (sij and p):
ij = ij + sij + ij p (4)
where sij represents the stress tensor caused by the solid ice, δij means
the Kronecker’s delta (δij = 0 if i ≠ j; δij = 1 if i = j), and p denotes the
liquid pore pressure. The isotropic liquid pressure (p) inside capillary
pores can hold before cracking. But once cracking happens, the liquid
pressure inside the crack gaps will act perpendicularly to the crack
plane:
ij = ij + sij + ij l i p (5)
where li is the unit directional vector normal to a crack plane.
The dynamic equilibrium equations of the concrete skeleton and
liquid in cracks are formulated are follows:
= (1 n) s + fc n c + fl n l (6)
= (ui, tt gi ) + (7)
ij, i l wi, tt
p, i = (8)
l (ui, tt gi ) + l wi, tt /(fl n ) + (1/ki ) wi, tt
where ρ is the averaged density, 1−n and ρs are the volume ratio and
density of concrete skeleton, fc and fl are the proportion of ice and water
in pores (fc + fl = 1), ρc and ρl are the densities of ice and water, re-
spectively. u the space-averaged displacement of concrete skeleton, gi is
the gravity and w is the substantial relative displacement of water. The
subscript t and tt denotes the first and second-order differentiations
with respect to time. The permeability (ki) in each i-direction depends
on the crack opening width of other two directions [33]:
+ b
ki = k 0 1 +
jj kk
a (9)
where k0 is the intrinsic permeability of matrix, εjj+εkk is the transverse
in-plain strain perpendicular to the water flow, a is a constant meaning
a critical width of the crack opening (=100μ), b is related to the liquid
type. According to literature [34], k0 = 10−9 cm/s, b = 4 are assumed
for liquid water.
Finally, the total liquid and solid pore pressures can be calculated as
follows [22,32]:
3
p = K¯ f (wi, i + fl ii ) + b·(pcryo + pcryst )
i=1 (10)
sij = 3 ij K¯ f (aii + fc ii ) (11)
F. Gong et al. Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

50 100 50
Single reinforced beam (compared with experiments) Unit: mm

150
200

50
200 200 1200 200

RC Element Frost Damage Area

Different arrangements of reinforcement (numerical investigation)

NS

DS

Fig. 1. Details of RC beam arrangement and 3D FEM mesh (C10).

1 n f n fn 1
where γICE ≈ 0.04 J/m2 is the specific energy of ice/water interface,
K¯ f = + c + l
Ks Kc Kl (12) T < 0 °C is the local temperature in Celsius, T0 is the freezing point of
free water (0 °C), δ ≈ 0.9 nm is the thickness of unfrozen water layer
where K̄f is the averaged bulk modulus, εii is the strain of concrete between ice and pore wall. If we define the “radius” of ordinary pore
skeleton, b = 2n/(1 + n) [30] is the Biot coefficient, aii is the increased size distribution curve as the radius of pore body (other than pore
3
ice volume in each direction ( i = 1 aii = ΔV′ICE). entry), Eq. (14) indeed corresponds to the melting curve. Then in order
During large numbers of FTCs, the increment in strain and damage to obtain the freezing curve, the differences between pore entry and
is mainly due to additional water absorption after each cycle (detailly pore body must be quantified, or the so-called ink-bottle effect. Al-
discussed in [22]). After each cycle, some crack space is newly in- though we can get a natural freezing-melting hysteresis for each par-
troduced, and additional water can flow in from outside (based on Eq. ticular specimen if the characters of pore entry and pore body are
(8)). Then the freezable water increases so that more ice expansion measured. However, for the simulation purpose, a more general model
occurs in the next freeze-thaw cycle. As a result, the strain will suc- is necessary. A statistic model has been proposed for the ink-bottle ef-
cessively increase. fect as [23]:

2.3. Ice volume expansion during freeze/thaw Sink = Sc ln(Sc ) (15)

rICE
where Sink is the ratio of the ink water, Sc = 0 dr and Ω is the
The empirical pore size distribution adopts a simplistic Raleigh-Ritz
normalized pore size distribution ( 0 dr = 1). Finally, the ice freezing
(R-R) distribution function for convenience [23]:
and melting curves can be calculated as [32]:
(r ) = lr + gel (1 exp( Bgel r )) + cap (1 exp( Bcap r )) (13)
1 S (rICE ) + S (rICE _ min ) ln[S (rICE )] (freezing)
SICE =
where ϕ(r) is the cumulated porosity whose radii are no more than r, S (rICE _ min ) ln[S (rICE )] (thawing) (16)
ϕlr, ϕgel and ϕcap represents the porosity of interlayer, gel and capillary r0
pores, respectively, Bgel and Bcap are the distribution parameter for gel where S(r0) = 0 dr and rICE_min is the minimum value during the
and capillary pores. freeze/thaw cycle.
The critical radius of ice that can freeze at a certain temperature is The amount of entrained/entrapped air is usually sensitive to the
[3]: frost damage, and a simple model has been proposed [32], which
considering that only around 10% of the total air volume can be
2 ICE
rICE = + functional in frost resistance [35]. Then, the final effective volume of
Sfv·(T0 T ) (14) ice expansion which will contribute to the damage (ΔV’ICE) can

861
F. Gong et al. Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

Table 1
Porosities and size distribution of cement paste.
w/c Age (day) Hydration degree Total porosity Interlayer Porosity Gel porosity Capillary Porosity Bgel (m−1) Bcap (m−1) ϕair (non-AE)

0.6 28 91% 0.4495 0.2527 0.1077 0.0891 6.57E + 7 3.34E + 6 2.0%

estimated as: Table 2

VICE = VICE Q = 0.09SICE · · 0.1 Design parameters of RC columns.
cp air (17)
ID Longitudinal ρL (%) Stirrup reinforcement
where ΔVICE is the total volume increment when ice forms, SICE is the reinforcement
ice amount calculated from Eq. (16), ϕ is the total void ratio of cement
paste (excluding air bubbles), ψcp is the volume ratio of paste in con- DL (mm) Yield strength DS (mm) Yield strength Spacing
crete, Q is the consumed volume by entrained/entrapped air, ϕair is the (MPa) (MPa) (mm)

total air content. N 13 361 0.66 – – –

P – – – – – –
3. Simulation models and boundary conditions D 13 361 1.33 – – –
NS 13 361 0.66 6 308 100
DS 13 361 1.33 6 308 100
The simulation model basically refers the experiments by [26]. As
shown in Fig. 1, the size of concrete beam is 200 × 200 × 1600 mm,
and two main reinforcing bars with diameter of 13 mm are placed. In
order to obtain a significant frost damage process, the water to cement
4. Results and verification
(w/c) ratio is set as 0.6 and without usage of air-entrained agent (AEA).
Based on the curing and testing conditions in experiments, the hydra-
4.1. Temperature distribution
tion process and the characters of micro-pore structures can be calcu-
lated by DuCOM program [23,24], as shown in Table 1. Even without
The temperature distribution is regardless of the rebar location, thus
AEA, some entrapped air bubbles may still exist, whose amount was
there are only three different cases: 5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm of exposure
measured as 2% in experiments [26]. Finally, based on the formulations
depth. The time-dependent temperature profile of each case is simu-
in Section 2.3, the pore size distribution and the ice volume expansion
lated by solving the 3D heat conduction equations, as shown in
can be quantified.
Figs. 3–5. The controlled temperature history (Fig. 2) is actually for the
The temperature and moisture boundary conditions consider dif-
ambient environment (exposed to air during freezing and submerged in
ferent exposure depths both in compression and tension sides. Three
water during thawing), thus there is a gap between ambient tempera-
different depths (5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm) are selected for compression
ture and surface temperature due to the heat convection. For all three
side, which are represented by C5, C10 and C15, and 2 depths (10 cm
cases, the temperature distribution is relatively uniform along x-direc-
and 15 cm) are investigated for tension (T10 and T15). The yellow part
tion within the exposure range, therefore, the cross section at the
in Fig. 1 shows the exposure area of C10. In order to control the frost
middle of span is selected to show the general characters. It can be seen
damage area, the rest surface area was coated with silica resin in the
that the temperature variation near the exposure boundary does not
experiments [26], which can roughly insulate the heat and moisture
change much, see point A and point B in three figures. However, as the
transfer. Therefore, the FEM simulation will also adopt the same en-
distance from the exposure surface becomes longer, the temperature lag
vironmental boundary conditions. After 28 days of moist curing, the RC
will be enlarged, see point C and D. In addition, this temperature lag of
beam was exposed to cyclic atmospheric freezing and underwater
the inner points will decrease when larger area is exposed to ambient
thawing and the controlled temperature history of one FTC is shown in
temperature boundary. The aforementioned characters are easy to un-
Fig. 2. Besides, the thawing process was underwater in experiments,
derstand by referring the heat conduction equations.
during which the additional water can flow into the damaging cracks,
There is another important factor that would affect the frost damage
which is also be considered and simulated in the following analysis.
cumulation during large numbers of FTC significantly: the maximum
At last, in addition to the rebar arrangement in [17], some other typical
temperature of inner points (C and D). It can be seen that for the case of
cases are also numerically investigated. As shown in Fig. 1 and Table 2, “N”
depth = 5 cm (Fig. 3) and 10 cm (Fig. 4), the temperature of point C
represents the normal case used in real experiments, “P” means plain con-
and D would never raise above 0 °C. Fig. 6 illustrates the frost damage
crete without any reinforcement, “D” means double layers of main bars,
accumulation process during large number of FTC, during which the
“NS” means single layer of main bar but with stirrups, finally “DS” means
water uptake into the generated cracks is essential. Considering the
double layers of main bars with stirrups. The material properties of different
crack width should be much larger than the capillary and gel pores, the
reinforcing bars are listed in Table 2.
freezing point of water in cracks can be regarded as 0 °C. Therefore, the
10 lower part of beam (roughly 3/4 in Fig. 3 and 1/2 in Fig. 4, where
(14h,7oC) always stays frozen during FTC) would never have the damage accu-
5 mulation. Based on this criterion, when the exposure depth = 15 cm,
Temperature (oC)

even point C and D can go above 0 °C thus the entire depth of beam can
0 be thawed after each FTC. Consequently, the damage accumulation will
0 5 10 15 happen in the whole beam. Therefore, although the exposure depth
-5
increases linearly, the change of temperature field is non-linear, and
-10 this can also explain the nonlinear change in the damage cumulation
process (Section 4.2) and residual mechanical performance [26].
-15
(7h,-18oC)
-20
Time (hour) 4.2. Path-dependent FTC damage accumulation

Fig. 2. Temperature history of one FTC (referred from [26]). Combining difference cases of exposure depth (5 cm 10 cm and

862
F. Gong et al. Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

20 Control Point A
Point B Point C B A
Point D

Temperature(oC)
10

C
0

-10
D
-20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (day)
Z
Y X

Fig. 3. Non-uniform temperature distribution profile (exposure depth = 5 cm).

15 cm) and location (compression side and tension side), the path-de-
pendent deformation during 300 FTC are simulated, and the profiles of
principle strain are shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The ID such as “N-C10-10”
means the normal (N) arrangement of rebar referred from [26] with
exposure depth of 5 cm in compression side (C5) and after 10 cycles of
freeze-thaw. Similarly, “T10” in Fig. 8 means 10 cm depth of exposure
in tension side. From the deformation profiles after different numbers of
FTC, some interesting phenomena can be seen:
(1) As the number of FTC increases, the non-uniform damage (principle
strain) also increases almost linearly, during which the profile of
non-uniformity keeps similar (except for C15 and T15).
(2) For the cases where the compression side is exposed to FTC (Fig. 7),
when the exposure depth is small (like C5), the damage localization
happens at the edges of beams. But as the exposure depth increases,
the localization at edges is reduced and the whole top surface is
damaged more uniformly (C10 and C15). This damage pattern is
closely related to the temperature profiles in Figs. 3–5, and also the
accessibility boundary water.
(3) The reinforcing bars can limit the longitudinal expansion of the
lower part of the beams in Fig. 7. This confining effect would not
change the damage pattern in C5 and C10 during 300 FTC sig-
nificantly, because even without rebar, the damage zone can be
limited to the upper part of beams. However, for C15, the entire
depth can have damage accumulation, thus the two main bars can
efficiently reduce the crack opening width as well as the additional
water uptake. As a result, when number of FTC increase, the da-
mage accumulation in the upper part is much faster than the lower
part (see 10, 100, 200, 300 FTC of N-C15).
(4) It can also be seen that the damage area of C15 is gradually cen-
tralized during 300 FTC. This is because when a big gap in ex-
pansion is existed between upper and lower part, the beam will be
bended upwards. Then the crack opening near the central area of
top surface can be enlarged by this structural bending. As a result,
based on Fig. 6, more water can be absorbed after each FTC, so the
damage accumulation speed is also faster than other area.
(5) When the tension side is exposed temperature change and water
supply, the damage accumulation can be much reduced by the main
bars. For example, C10 and T10 are under the same heat & moisture
boundary conditions, but the damage level of T10 is lower than C10

20 Control Point A
Point B Point C B A
Point D
Temperature(oC)

10

0 C

-10
D
-20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (day)
Z
Y X

Fig. 4. Non-uniform temperature distribution profile (exposure depth = 10 cm).

863
F. Gong et al. Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

20 Control Point A
Point B Point C B A
Point D

Temperature(oC)
10

0
C

-10
D
-20
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Time (day)
Z
Y X

Fig. 5. Non-uniform temperature distribution profile (exposure depth = 15 cm).

Cracks Empty Water supply Bigger cracks from the beginning and this difference is enlarged as FTC con-
filled by ice cracks with ice tinuous. The final expansion of T10 is less than half of C10.
(6) Comparing T15 and C15, similar trends can be also seen when the
number of FTC is small (see N-C15-10 and N-T15-10). However,
during large numbers of FTC exposure, the damage localization in
T15 shows quite different characters. First, although the two main
bars can limit the damage level in lower part of beam, the exposure
Freeze Melt Water motion Freeze
depth (15 cm) takes 3/4 of the height so that the addition water still
Fig. 6. Frost damage accumulation process during large number of FTC with can penetrate from two sides where above the main bar. Thus, the
water supply. rebar cannot control the damage generated in the middle or upper

N-C5-10 N-C10-10 N-C15-10

N-C5-100 N-C10-100 N-C15-100

N-C5-200 N-C10-200 N-C15-200

N-C5-300 N-C10-300 N-C15-300

Fig. 7. Path-dependent deformation during 300 FTC (frost exposure in compression side).

864
F. Gong et al. Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

N-T10-10 N-T15-10

N-T10-100 N-T15-100

N-T10-200 N-T15-200

N-T10-300 N-T15-300

Fig. 8. Path-dependent deformation during 300 FTC (frost exposure in tension side).

part. Finally, some localized damage happens in T15 because of the

anisotropy in the rebar confinement, where the expansion in y and z FEM (Hayashida, 2014)
direction cannot be restricted.
FEM (Kanazawa, 2017)
From Figs. 7 and 8, it can be seen that the frost damage accumu-
lation in RC beam is a highly non-linear process which closely related to 10mm
the temperature, moisture, structure shape, and rebar arrangement.
Further discussion on the effect of reinforcement will be made in
Section 5. Finally, Fig. 9 shows the bending deformation of each case
EXP (Hayashida, 2012)
after 300 FTC. No matter the exposure side is in compression or tension,
the beam will always be bent upward due to the longitudinal rebar, and
the deflection also changes nonlinearly with the exposure depth. This
type of deflection is of great importance but easy to be ignored. For
example, if the residual flexural behavior is tested for C15 after 300 Fig. 10. Previous FEM simulation where the pre-stored deflection was not
FTC, the starting point of loading is actually −7.31 mm, which mean considered (C15-300).
the pre-stored deflection must be recovered first before the real bending
starts. Consequently, the experimental results will show much smaller
point, the advantage of multi-scale life-time simulation in this study is
stiffness and much larger strain at the peak load, as shown in Fig. 10.
obvious, that it can catch the real pre-stress-strain condition before any
Therefore, the numerical simulation can hardly catch the experimental
load is applied.
response if not considering this pre-stored deflection [36,37]. From this

N-C5-300

N-C10-300 N-T10-300

N-C15-300 N-T15-300

Fig. 9. Bending deformation of beam after 300 FTC (deformation × 10).

865
F. Gong et al. Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

4.3. Correlations between damage indexes 1.2

Analysis
1 fc(%)=1/(600ε+1)
The experimental clarification of frost damage distribution and
R2=0.86 Hasan (2004)
damage level in RC members/structures is difficult. Only a few indirect 0.8
fc(%)=-238ε+1
measurements have been used in past studies, such as ultrasonic velo-

fc,D / fc
0.6 Extended
city and relative dynamic elastic modulus (RDEM), which can usually
provide one dimensional or at most two dimensional information 0.4
[15,26]. In addition, in order to utilize the measured data, some lin-
kages among different damage indexes and material mechanical prop- 0.2 R2=0.97
erties are necessary. Based on data regression, Hanjari et al. [21] have
0
linked most of the important material properties to the measured 0 0.003 0.006 0.009 0.012 0.015
RDEM, such as compressive strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus, Residual principle strain
ductility, fracture energy and so on. Hayashida et al. [36] also corre-
Fig. 12. Correlation between compressive strength reduction and residual ex-
lated the compressive strength with the measured ultrasonic velocity.
pansive strain.
However, the residual deformation (plastic tensile strain, or cracking)
has been missed in both studies, which is usually the most obvious
index in numerical simulation. 1.2
In Hasan’s study [11], the relationship between residual expansion 1
and degraded compressive strength as well as elastic modulus has been R2=0.94
recorded, but the maximum residual strain only reaches 1800μ, which 0.8
corresponds to a maximum reduction of 40% in compressive strength.

fc,D / fc
0.6
In order to supplement the correlation where residual strain is bigger
than 1800μ, 10 cm cubic specimens are simulated under compression 0.4 Analysis
with different levels of frost-induced residual strain, as shown in Hayashida (2014)
Fig. 11. This type of material-level simulation has been verified in the 0.2 fc(%)=V(%)
authors past studies [38]. In addition, Fig. 12 plots the correlation
0
between residual strain and the reduction in compressive strength, to- 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
gether with Hassan’s experimental data, which shows a fair agreement VD / V
within the range of experiments (0–1800μ). Therefore, the reliability of
Fig. 11 can be enhanced. Then considering both simulated and ex- Fig. 13. Correlation between reduction in compressive strength and ultrasonic
perimental data in Fig. 12, a simple relation can be regressed as: velocity.

fc, D 1
= short range, while the simulated data can supplement the left part
fc 600 + 1 (18) which corresponding to much severer damages. This supplementary
where fc,D and fc are the damaged and undamaged compressive information is very important because in the experimental beam tests,
strength, respectively, and ε is the residual principle strain. From the reduction in velocity due to frost damage can be as much as 90%
Fig. 11, the elastic modulus (Ec,D) can also be read, and based on the (see Section 4.4), which cannot be covered by the material tests in
follow equation [21] Fig. 13. Finally, a simple relation can be assumed between the reduc-
tion in compressive strength and ultrasonic velocity:
Ec, D = 0.9Ed, D 6 (19)
fc, D VD
=
Ed, D V 2 fc V (21)
= D2
Ed V (20)
Then combing Eqs. (18) and (21), the velocity change and residual
The elastic modulus (Ec,D) after frost damage can be converted to tensile strain can be correlated with each other, which will make the
dynamic elastic modulus (Ed,D), and finally to the ultrasonic velocity verification of simulated deformation profile possible.
(VD). Then the correlation between velocity change and compressive
strength reduction can be drawn for the simulated cases in Fig. 11, as 4.4. Verification with 2D ultrasonic velocity profile
shown in Fig. 13, also together with Hayashida’s experimental data
[26]. It can be seen that the experimental data is available only within a The travelling times were measured between two sides of the RC
beam, picking an array of locations at the concrete surface [26]. Since
50
the measured ultrasonic velocity data can only provide a two-dimen-
Undamaged
sional mapping (in x-z plane), the simulated 3D deformation profiles in
10cm
Compressive stress (MPa)

40 ε=700μ
Figs. 7 and 8 should also be converted into 2D mapping in x-z plane for
ε=1350μ
ε=1800μ the comparison purpose. Considering a thickness of L (=20 cm) along
30 the y-direction of RC beam, then the total time (t) for the ultrasonic
ε=4000μ
ε=7700μ wave pass from one side to the other should be:
20 ε=14000μ
L 1
t= 0 VD (y )
dy
10 L
t= V¯D (22)
0 where VD is the average velocity which measured in the experiments.
0 5 10 15 20
Compressive strain (10-3) Thus, the normalized reduction of velocity can be written as:
1 1 L 1
Fig. 11. Residual compressive behaviors with different levels of uniform FTC = dy
expansion. V¯D /V L 0 VD (y )/ V (23)

866
F. Gong et al. Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870

Ana. (μ) Ana. (μ)

Ana. VD Ana. VD
V V

Exp. VD Exp. VD
V V

(a) (b)

Ana. (μ)

Ana. VD
V

Exp. VD
V

(c)

Ana. (μ) Ana. (μ)

Ana. VD Ana. VD
V V

Exp. VD Exp. VD
V V

(d) (e)
Fig. 14. Transformed 2D velocity data and experimental verification (a) N-C5-300 (b) N-C10-300 (c) N-C15-300 (d) N-T10-300 (e) N-T15-300.

Taking Eqs. (18) and (21) into Eq. (23), there comes:
1 1 L 1 1 L
= dy = [600 (y ) + 1] dy = 600 + 1
V¯D /V L 0 fc, D (y )/ fc L 0
(24)
L
where = (1/L) 0 (y ) dy is the space averaged strain along y-direc-
tion. Then, the 3D deformation profiles after 300 FTC for each exposure
case can be compared with 2D ultrasonic velocity data, as shown in
Fig. 14. First, the 3D principle strain profile is converted into 2D version
( ) by averaging along y direction. Then, based on Eq. (24), the simu-
lated normalized velocity (VD/ V ) can be obtained, during which a non-
linear transfer can be observed. Finally, the 2D mapping is also drawn
based on [26], and a good agreement with simulated results can be
seen. This comparison enhances the reliability of proposed multi-scale
model for the path-dependent frost damage process in RC members/
structures. From Fig. 14, some other interesting phenomena can be
seen. For example, there is a clear gap between damaged part and
undamaged part when the FTC is imposed on the compression side
(where the main bar is not placed), see Fig. 14(a–c), which means the
damaging depth is mainly controlled by the temperature and moisture
boundary conditions, while the effect of rebar confinement is relatively
smaller. On the contrary, the rebar confinement is essential when ex-
posure area is in tension side, see Fig. 14(d) and (e). In addition, when
the exposure depth is not too big (like T10), the reinforcing bar is still
effective in controlling the damage cumulation speed, thus the damage
level of T10 is much smaller than C10. However, when the exposure
depth in tension is big enough (T15), the reinforcing bar cannot limit
the damage cumulation close to the compression side, thus the final
damage level of T15 is similar with C15.
It should be mentioned here that, the ultrasonic tests conducted by
Hayashida [26] can only be an approximate estimation. In fact, using
ultrasound to quantify the structural frost damage is still under in-
vestigation and many technical problems still remain. Actually, such
high degree of reduction in ultrasonic velocity should be accompany
with serious cracking and damage, so that the material may become
discontinuous. Thus, the accuracy and reliability of ultrasonic mea-
surement needs further discussion. At this moment, the experimental
measurement can be a rough verification of the simulated results, be-
sides, the simulated deformation profiles are quite close to experiments
[26]. Nevertheless, the ultrasonic application in RC structures will be
investigated and improved in the future.

867
F. Gong et al.
P-C15 NS-C15
N-C15 DS-C15
D-C15
Fig. 15. Damage profile after 300 FTC with different arrangements of re-
inforcement.
5. Effect of reinforcement
From the above discussion, the theory-based multiscale models, si-
mulation results and the experimental measurements can be cross-
verified with each other, which provide us more confidence for the
further numerical investigation. The effect of different exposure con-
ditions on the frost damage cumulation process has been discussed and
verified, but there is still another important factor: the arrangement of
reinforcement. Then referring different reinforcing conditions in
Fig. 11, and choosing the exposure depth as 15 cm, the final deforma-
tion profiles after 300 FTC are simulated and shown in Fig. 15. In ad-
dition, for a better view of damage distribution inside the beam, the 2D
(in y-z plane) damage profiles are drawn by averaging the damage
profile of the central part of beam, where x coordinate is between
−200 mm and 200 mm, see Fig. 16. Finally, combining Figs. 15 and 16,
some interesting tendencies can be seen:
(1) Comparison P-C15 (plain concrete) and N-C15, the presence of
main bars can cause additional deflection towards compression
side, so the damage on the top surface is more concentrated and
with bigger magnitudes.
(2) When the main bar is also placed in the compression side (D-C15),
the damage depth can be reduced significantly, but some localized
damages may happen between two main bars near the top surface.
P-C15
D-C15
Fig. 16. Averaged 2D principle strain profiles in Plane Y-Z with different exposure and confining conditions.
Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870
(3) When the stirrups are added (NS-C15 and DS-C15), no matter single
layer or double layers of main bar are placed, the damage level near
the top surface is much increased, which is similar to the spalling of
concrete cover in real life.
(4) From N-T15 in Fig. 16, the longitudinal reinforcement can limit the
frost damage accumulation from the tensile side, and some loca-
lized damage may happen between two main bars. At the same
time, the damage can still initiate and cumulate from two sides,
which will finally give the deformation profile shown in Fig. 8.
Considering that all the simulated cases show some levels of de-
flection, which is similar to the traditional bending under external loads
but in the opposite direction. Thus, the strain distribution of the central
plane (x = 0) is shown in Fig. 17(a), which still obeys the plane-section
assumption. Other than the plan concrete (P-C15), all the cases with
rebar are roughly crossing at the height of Z = 4 cm, which is close to
the location of longitudinal bars. It is interesting that no matter the frost
damage is cumulated from top surface (N-C15) or from bottom surface
(N-T15), or even longitudinal bars also placed at Z = 15 cm, different
curves still cross with each other at Z = 4 mm, which looks like a
“neutral axis”. However, this neutral axis is different from the tradi-
tional one in beam bending test and is mainly determined by the lo-
cation of longitudinal bars (almost the same location). To further prove
the aforementioned assumptions. The longitudinal reinforcement ratio
is enlarged 3 times for each exposure conditions, see Fig. 17(b). In this
figure, the “neutral axis” is exactly located at Z = 5 cm, and due to the
stronger confining effect of main bar, the deflection in D-C15 and DS-
C15 has almost disappeared. Finally, we can conclude that the “neutral
axis” of RC beam in the load-free frost damage process is located almost
same as the main bars.
6. Conclusions
In this paper, the spatially non-uniform frost damage accumulation
processes in a RC beam under different exposure and confining condi-
tions are simulated, through a multi-scale FEM analysis considering
both the thermodynamic and poromechanical evens happen during
cyclic freeze/thaw. The main findings of this study are summarized as
follows:
(1) The temperature distribution for different exposure depth are si-
mulated by solving the 3D heat conduction equations. It is found
that not only the lowest temperature that each location can reach,
N-C15 N-T15
NS-C15 DS-C15
868
F. Gong et al.
20
15
Z (mm)
10
5 5
5 5
0 0
-500 0 500
0 0
-2000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000
Strain-XX (μ)
(a)
Fig. 17. Averaged strain-xx of central plane (x = 0) with different height (a) rebar arrangement in Table 2 (b) main bar ratio is tribble.
but also the highest temperature (whether can be above 0 °C or not)
is essential during the frost damage accumulation. The part of
concrete where the temperature always stays below 0 °C is not
likely to have cumulated frost damage in RC members/structures.
Thus, this issue should be carefully considered when designing the
FTC test for bigger size structural concrete.
(2) The path-dependent frost damage processes (referred as tensile
deformation and cracking) are simulated considering both por-
omechanical expansion, mechanical nonlinearity and the water
flow through pores and cracking system, which can provide a
clearer view of non-uniform damage accumulation process. The
deformation pattern is closely related to the heat & moisture
boundary conditions. Besides, when the reinforcing bars are placed
near the exposure area (like T10 and T15), the damage pattern and
accumulation speed will be significantly affected.
(3) The basic material mechanical properties are simulated, and to-
gether with the past experimental data, the simulated expansion is
linked to strength reduction, and further converted to the ultrasonic
velocity change. The comparison between simulated velocity
change and measurements shows a good agreement, which enhance
the reliability of proposed multi-scale modeling platform. This
method can also be used in the non-destructive evaluation and data
assimilation analysis.
(4) During frost damage accumulation process, a considerable deflec-
tion will happen depending on both exposure conditions and rebar
arrangements. This deflection may enlarge the crack width near the
top surface so that the damage accumulation speed can be ac-
celerated. This is also a unique phenomenon in structural frost
damage (other than material-based test). Besides, this deflection
may also lead to a misunderstanding of the experimental flexural
behaviors after frost damage. That is, the much smaller stiffness and
much bigger strain at peak load mainly own to the pre-stored stress-
strain conditions after frost damage.
(5) The effects of different types of reinforcing bars are numerically
studied. It is found that the longitudinal bars can limit the damage
depth efficiently, and the higher reinforcement ratio is, the smaller
depth and smaller magnitude of frost damage will become. The
stirrups can also protect the core concrete to some extent, but it will
increase the risk of spalling of concrete cover. Finally, a similar
“neutral axis” is found during the cyclic freeze/thaw process, which
is located almost at the location of longitudinal bars.
Acknowledgements
This study was financially supported by Council for Science,
Technology and Innovation, “Cross-ministerial Strategic Innovation
Promotion Program (SIP), Infrastructure Maintenance, Renovation, and
Management” granted by Japan Science and Technology Agency.
Engineering Structures 176 (2018) 859–870
P-C15 20 P-C15
N-C15 N-C15
N-T15 N-T15
D-C15 15 D-C15
NS-C15 NS-C15
DS-C15 DS-C15
Z (mm)
10
1000 -500 0 500 1000
10000 -2000 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000
Strain-XX (μ)
(b)
Appendix A. Supplementary material
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.engstruct.2018.09.044.
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