Durability analysis of underground concrete wall between air and wetting exposures

Abstract This paper aims to solve the durability patterns of underground concrete walls with one side exposed to air and the other side to wetting conditions. To this aim, moisture transport is analyzed for both steady and non‐steady cases with the characteristic lengths and influential depths defined for the drying and wetting actions. Using these influential depths, the concrete wall is divided into thick wall and thin wall with the associated durability patterns and risks identified for each case. Based on the properties of typical structural concretes, the durability‐related quantities are determined to help the durability design of these concrete elements.