Keywords: thermo-hydro-mechanics, concrete, creep, shrinkage, damage, high temperature, multiscale modelling, finite elements.

Structural analyses have reached high-level capabilities since the advent of finite elements and the solution of more and more complex coupled phenomena has been deeply enhanced by the progress of computational mechanics in engineering.

This review focuses on the main issues that have to be addressed when modelling cementitious materials in multi-physics applications, especially under severe environmental conditions. A survey of the most established formulations in this field is here proposed. Namely, this paper focuses on the following aspects of concrete: thermo-hydro-mechanics, creep, shrinkage, and damage at the material level.

The structure of the paper is such that, after an introduction to the background of thermo-hydro-mechanical modelling, for each one of the specific features mentioned above, the most interesting contributions to computational mechanics, both from a theoretical point of view and for numerical implementation purposes, will be presented and discussed.

The review is enriched by examples of challenging applications in concrete modelling that are possible nowadays in structural mechanics within the framework of coupled thermo-hydro-mechanics, i.e. concrete under fire and concrete in radioactive environments, to mention a few. When possible, the advantages of a mesoscale modelling compared to the homogeneous approach is illustrated, which allow for a step forward in modelling coupled processes and their understanding.

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