In circumstances with wastewater and seawater, the behavior of multi-ions including calcium, chloride and others in concrete attracts attention. The present study investigated the multiple mechanisms that could happen under the special field situation above, including calcium leaching, chloride transport and multi-ion coupling. To realize the interactive ingress of multi ions, the simulation method for the processing of the individual mechanisms and the mutual influences is adopted. The distributions of the diversified ions are analyzed with the influence of the interfacial transition zone. The time-spatial distribution of porosity and its evolution mechanisms are investigated by considering the interaction with calcium ions in both pore solution and solid phase. The results indicate that calcium leaching would dominantly speed up chloride transport due to the coarsened pore structure, while the multi ions electrochemical coupling effect would facilitate calcium leaching in the early stage but subtly delay calcium leaching in the later stage.

High-frequency vibration helps to improve the compactness of concrete, but also causes the settlement of coarse aggregates (CAs) and then affects the durability of hardened concrete. In this paper, a numerical study combining multi-phase CA settlement model and multi-component ionic transport model is performed to understand the influence of vibration-induced settlement on long-term chloride transport in concrete. Through parametric analysis, the influence mechanism of relevant factors on both chloride profile distribution and reinforcement corrosion initiation is discussed in detail. The results indicate that with the increase of vibration time, a decrease of chloride concentration appears in the bottom part of concrete specimen and a significant increase in the top part, because more CAs deposit in the bottom layer. Due to sedimentation, a more obvious fluctuation of chloride concentration along the height direction can be observed in the concrete mixed with a larger density and particle size of CAs. According to the model prediction, the corrosion of the top steel bar initiates 1.03–1.80 years earlier than that of the bottom steel bar under the same parameters. In practical engineering, special attention should be paid on the stability of fresh concrete and vibrating procedures to avoid obvious CA settlement.

Fresh concrete needs vibration to compact, fill the mould and reach a dense state. During the compaction process, coarse aggregates (CAs) tend to settle, affecting the homogeneity and eventually the long-term durability of hardened concrete. In this study, a 3-D, multi-phase numerical model for fresh concrete is developed for better understanding the CA settlement under vibration. The settlement rate of the CA in vibrated concrete is considered based on the Stokes law, and the calibrated rheological parameter of mixtures is determined by the segmented sieving method. The model prediction shows that the vibration time has the greatest effect on CA settlement, followed by the particle size of CAs, whereas the density of CAs and the plastic viscosity of mixtures contribute a little compared with the aforementioned factors. Through experimental tests, the validity of prediction results is well verified. The proposed model provides a new method to understand and estimate the settlement behaviour of CAs.