Heat and mass transfer in concrete at elevated temperature

This article presents a mathematical and computational model to simulate the coupled heat and mass transfer of concrete subjected to fire by means of the finite-volume method. The model considers not only the transport of water vapor and liquid water but also the evaporation of liquid water and the dehydration of bound water. It can be applied to multidimensional problems. Taking into account the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, and including the effects of evaporation and dehydration processes on the transport phenomena, a set of three coupled nonlinear differential equations is obtained. A comparison between experimental tests performed by Kalifa on a concrete specimen (30 x 30 x 12 cm(3)) at high temperature and the numerical results obtained from the model presented are shown. Good qualitative agreement is attained.