Water transport through cracks in plain and reinforced concrete – Influencing factors and open questions

Abstract The main mechanisms for water transport in cementitious materials, diffusion, capillary suction and permeation, are first presented basically related to uncracked concrete and discussed with regard to their individual mass transport potential. The discussion of transport mechanisms illustrates that crack geometry is a key factor with regard to permeation and durability. However, existing models are based on oversimplified crack geometry assumptions. The effects of concrete mixture, reinforcement, concrete cover, and self-healing are discussed, and measurement techniques on crack geometry are presented. Based on the results, the consideration of effecting factors in parameters for existing transport models is recommended to meet the complexity.