Model abstraction addressing long-term simulations of chemical degradation of large-scale structures

This paper presents a methodology to assess the spatial-temporal evolution of chemical degradation fronts in real-size concrete structures typical of a near-surface radioactive waste disposal facility. The methodology consists of the abstraction of a so-called full (complicated) model accounting for the multicomponent-multiscale nature of concrete to an abstracted (simplified) model which simulates chemical concrete degradation based on a single component in the aqueous and solid phase. The abstracted model is verified against chemical degradation fronts simulated with the full model under both diffusive and advective transport conditions. Implementation in the multiphysics simulation tool COMSOL allows simulation of the spatial-temporal evolution of chemical degradation fronts in large-scale concrete structures.