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Microwave decontamination of concrete

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DOI: 10.1680/macr.2010.62.12.879

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 Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 12, December, 879–885
doi: 10.1680/macr.2010.62.12.879

Microwave decontamination of concrete

A. Akbarnezhad* and K. C. G. Ong*

National University of Singapore

Microwave heating has been recently considered as an effective method to remove the contaminated surface layer
of concrete elements. In such applications, an accurate simulation of the microwave–concrete interaction involves
the solution of Maxwell’s equations. However, owing to the inherent complexity of Maxwell’s equations, some
studies have used approximate methods such as Lambert’s law to estimate the microwave power dissipation in
concrete. Invariably, such approximations are prone to introduce errors in the results and verification using the
more accurate methods is thus necessary. In this paper, Maxwell’s equations are numerically solved to simulate
accurately the microwave–concrete interaction. The electric field and energy dissipation as well as the resulting
temperature rise and thermal stress development in concrete are computed. The results are used to verify the results
obtained using a modified Lambert’s law approximate method. Moreover, the effect of steel reinforcing bars
embedded in a concrete specimen on the microwave decontamination process is investigated. The results show that
Lambert’s law can be satisfactorily used as an easy-to-use method to predict the temperature rise and stress
development within a concrete specimen subjected to microwave heating.

Introduction
Surface decontamination or removal of the surface
layer of concrete has applications in various fields of
civil engineering such as concrete recycling, decom-
missioning of old nuclear power plants and demolition
of hazardous material storage facilities. Concrete re-
cycling is an increasingly common method of dealing
with demolition debris, providing a sustainable alterna-
tive source of concrete aggregates. Previous studies
show that up to 90% of structural concrete debris may
be used to produce recycled aggregates of acceptable
quality (EnviroCentre, 2005). However, one of the
stumbling blocks in the widespread use of recycled
concrete aggregates rather than natural aggregates is
the possible presence of contaminants in the concrete
debris used to produce the aggregates. These contami-
nants may include physical and chemical contaminants,
depending on the prior usage of the buildings being
demolished (EnviroCentre, 2005). An efficient tech-
nique to remove the contaminated surface layer of con-
crete and other impurities such as the gypsum plaster,
tiles and other surface finishes, especially before demo-
lition, can significantly reduce the possibility of the
* Department of Civil Engineering, National University of Singapore,
# 08–23, Block E1, 1 Engineering Drive 2, 117576 Singapore
(MACR-D-09-00083) Paper received 24 June 2009; last revised 26
January 2010; accepted 15 February 2010
presence of hazardous materials and other undesirable
impurities in concrete debris (Ayers, 1998).
Apart from concrete recycling, concrete surface de-
contamination is a very important stage in the decom-
missioning of old nuclear power plants, nuclear waste
processing plants and hazardous material storage facil-
ities (White et al., 1992). As a consequence of long-
term usage, various radionuclides diffuse into the con-
crete, thus contaminating its surface layer. The thick-
ness of the contaminated layer depends on the concrete
diffusivity and the exposure duration, but is usually
between 1 and 10 mm (Spalding, 2000). An efficient
method to remove this thin contaminated surface layer
for subsequent separate disposal can significantly in-
crease the total amount of demolition debris that can be
disposed of as normal concrete waste.
Microwave heating has been recently considered as a
potential alternative to conventional methods of con-
crete surface decontamination. This method not only
increases the efficiency of the decontamination process,
but also eliminates some of the drawbacks of conven-
tional methods (dust generation, health hazards, etc.)
(Ayers, 1998). The microwave decontamination method
uses the capability of a range of the microwave fre-
quencies to heat the concrete surface non-uniformly,
thereby creating a localised field of high thermal stres-
ses and pore water pressure resulting in spalling of the
contaminated surface layer.
The capability of this method has been confirmed
879

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Akbarnezhad and Ong
through experiments conducted at the Japanese Atomic
Energy Research Institute (JAERI), the UK Harwell
Laboratory and the US Oak Ridge National Laboratory
(ORNL) (White et al., 1992, 1995). A small number of
numerical studies have also reported the underlying
phenomenon leading to concrete surface spalling when
it is heated with microwaves. However, due to the
inherent complexity associated with electromagnetic
modelling, the previous studies rely on a number of
approximate methods to model the microwave–con-
crete interaction. In this paper, a more accurate electro-
magnetic model of the microwave–concrete interaction
coupled with thermal and structural analysis is used to
calculate the thermal stresses developed in a concrete
specimen when exposed to microwaves.
Microwave decontamination mechanism
The extent and pattern of the microwave heating of
concrete depends on the microwave frequency and power
and the electromagnetic properties of the concrete.
Among industrial, scientific and medical frequencies,
0.896 MHz, 915 MHz, 2.45 GHz, 10.6 GHz and 18 GHz
are often used for microwave heating applications. The
uniformity of heating decreases with an increase in the
microwave frequency. The lower microwave frequencies
of 0.896 and 915 MHz are normally used in microwave
cooking or microwave curing, when uniform heating of
the material is desired. When concentrated microwave
heating is desired, higher frequencies should be used.
If a concrete surface is exposed to concentrated
microwave heating at higher frequencies, a high tem-
perature develops within the surface layer exposed to
the microwave while the interior temperature remains
relatively unchanged. Such non-uniform heating of the
surface layer in a very short time leads to a high tem-
perature gradient and thus high thermal stresses. Be-
sides the differential thermal stresses, the pore pressure
that develops as a result of rapid evaporation of free
water present in the surface layer has also been postu-
lated to contribute to delamination of a concrete surface
when exposed to high-power microwave heating. How-
ever, by modelling the mass transfer phenomenon in
concrete, Bažant and Zi (2003) showed that, compared
with the thermal stresses, pore pressure plays a rel-
atively insignificant role in concrete surface spalling
after exposure to microwaves.
Numerical simulation
In general, modelling of the microwave heating pro-
cess involves solving:
(a) Maxwell’s equations, which govern the propagation
of microwave radiation through the material and
the microwave waveguide or cavity
880
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(b) the heat transfer equation, which governs heat ab-
sorption and the resulting temperature rise in a
concrete block
(c) the mass transfer equation, which governs pore
pressure development in a concrete block.
However, in previous studies, because of the complex-
ity of Maxwell’s equations, approximations and simpli-
fying assumptions such as the plane wave assumption
and/or Lambert’s law approximate method have been
used to estimate the microwave power dissipation in
concrete.
Li et al. (1993) and Lagos et al. (1995) used the
plane wave assumption to simplify the modelling of
microwave power dissipation in concrete. However, the
plane wave assumption may only be reasonable when
the microwave source is located very far from the con-
crete, and thus may not be a good simplifying assump-
tion for concrete decontamination and heating
applications.
Subsequently, Bažant and Zi (2003) used a Lambert’s
law approximate formulation to estimate microwave
power dissipation in concrete. However, according to
the available literature, even though Lambert’s law is
valid for samples thick enough to be treated as infi-
nitely thick, it may be a poor approximation in many
practical situations (Ayappa et al., 1991). Therefore,
prior to its use in applications involving the microwave
heating of concrete, its accuracy in estimating micro-
wave power dissipation in concrete blocks of common
thicknesses needs to be evaluated. Bažant and Zi
(2003) modified Lambert’s law to account for power
reflection by reinforcing rebars in concrete. However,
they did not account for the shape of the incident power
distribution as a result of the microwave excited mode
and considered a uniform incident microwave power
distribution at the microwave-exposed surface.
In this paper, the more accurate Maxwell’s equations
are numerically solved to investigate the microwave–
concrete interaction during the microwave decontami-
nation process. Moreover, the results of the electromag-
netic modelling are used as the heat source for heat
transfer and thermal–structural analysis to calculate the
temperature rise and thermal stresses developed in the
concrete block. The results are compared with those
obtained using the more simple microwave power dis-
sipation estimation based on the approximate Lambert’s
law formulation modified to account for the distribu-
tion of the incident microwave power. Furthermore, the
effect of the presence of embedded reinforcing bars is
investigated through electromagnetic modelling.
Problem description
In microwave decontamination of concrete, the
microwave applicator is designed to concentrate the
microwaves on the surface area of the concrete block.
Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 12
 Microwave decontamination of concrete

A simple microwave decontamination system may com- field intensity H, the magnetic flux density B, the
prise a microwave source to generate the microwaves current density J and the electric charge density r. For
and a waveguide and horn to transmit the generated general time-varying fields, Maxwell’s equations can
waves onto the surface of the concrete block. Other be written as
attachments such as a vacuum system, safety cavity and @D
measurement instruments may also be added to the =3H¼Jþ (1)
@t
system. The fixed microwave decontamination system
considered in this study is sketched in Figure 1. Using @B
=3E¼
(2)
both the approximate Lambert’s law and the more accu- @t
rate Maxwell’s equations, this work numerically pre- =D¼r (3)
dicts the microwave power dissipation and the resultant =B¼0 (4)
temperature rise and thermal stresses in a 20 cm thick
saturated concrete slab heated through a microwave Another fundamental equation is the equation of con-
waveguide. Three different microwave frequencies – tinuity, which can be written as
2.45, 10.6 and 18 GHz – are considered to represent
low, intermediate and high microwave decontamination r
@r
=J¼ (5)
frequencies, respectively. The size of the waveguide @t
applicator varies with the microwave frequency used.
Since the microwave applicator is directly in contact Out of Equations 1–5, only three are independent. To
with the concrete surface, the area of the surface heated obtain a closed system, the constitutive relations de-
zone at each microwave frequency is equal to the scribing the macroscopic properties of the medium are
waveguide area. The standard waveguide dimensions included. They are given as
for the three different frequencies considered in this D ¼
E ¼
r
0 E (6)
study are listed in Table 1.
B ¼ H ¼ r 0 H (7)
J ¼ E (8)
Problem formulation
Here,
0 is the permittivity of vacuum, 0 is the per-
Maxwell’s equations meability of vacuum,  is electrical conductivity,
r is
The challenge associated with electromagnetic analy- the relative permittivity and r is the relative per-
sis on a macroscopic level is the problem of solving meability of the material. The real and imaginary parts
Maxwell’s equations subject to certain boundary condi- of the relative permittivity are known as the dielectric
tions. Maxwell’s equations prescribe the relationships constant and the loss factor, respectively. The properties
between various fundamental electromagnetic quanti-
and  (without subscripts) are the permittivity and
ties. These are the electric field intensity E, the electric permeability of the material. The dielectric constant,
displacement or electric flux density D, the magnetic loss factor and conductivity of the saturated concrete
specimens considered in this study are summarised in
PEC
boundary Table 2.
condition Once the electric field inside the concrete block has
Concrete specimen
been calculated by solving the Maxwell’s equations, the
Horn (antenna) microwave power dissipated per unit volume of con-
Waveguide crete can be obtained from
Excitation
port PML PL(x) ¼ 12 ø
0
r0jEj2 (9)
boundary
z condition
y x PEC
To the microwave source boundary Here, ø is the angular frequency and
r0 is the loss
condition
factor of concrete. Equation 9 can be obtained after a
Figure 1. Sketch of the microwave applicator and the few straightforward mathematical manipulations of a
electromagnetic boundary conditions imposed theoretical formula known as the Poynting theorem.

Table 1. Waveguide dimensions

Frequency: GHz Designation Width: mm Height: mm Cut-off frequency:

GHz

2.45 WR340 86.36 43.18

10.60 WR90 22.86 10.16 7.847
18.00 WR42 10.66 4.31 14.05

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Akbarnezhad and Ong

Table 2. Electromagnetic properties of saturated concrete

Frequency: GHz Dielectric Loss Conductivity: Attenuation

constant factor S/m factor

2.45 8.10 0.750 0.086 6.76

10.60 7.45 0.785 0.510 31.91
18.00 6.86 0.813 0.870 58.47

Lambert’s law @ I(x)

Lambert’s law is the most common approximation
used to estimate the microwave power dissipation in
concrete. This method considers an exponential decay
of microwave energy absorption inside the concrete.
Ayappa et al. (1991) showed that Lambert’s law pro-
vides a good approximation when the thickness of the
material heated is at least 2.7 times thicker than the
penetration depth. The power penetration depth is de-
fined as the depth at which the transmitted power drops
to 1/e of its value at the surface, given by
d p ¼ 1=2 (10)
where  is the attenuation factor. Having measured the
electromagnetic properties of the material, its attenua-
tion factor at a specific frequency may be calculated as
 1=2
2 f
9r [(1 þ tan2 )1=2
1]
¼ (11)
c 2
where c is the speed of light, tan  is the loss tangent
of concrete,
9r is the dielectric constant of the concrete
and f is the microwave frequency. The minimum thick-
ness of the concrete calculated, for various moisture
contents and microwave frequencies, based on Ayappa
et al.’s recommendation are listed in Table 3. The
original form of Lambert’s law may be written as
I(x) ¼ I 0 e
2x (12)
where I(x) is the transmitted power flux into the med-
ium and I 0 is the incident power of the microwave.
Equation 12 may be used to predict the change in the
microwave energy with distance x from the microwave-
exposed surface of the concrete. Hence, the microwave
energy dissipated at a specific location inside the con-
crete block may be estimated by differentiating I(x)
with respect to x, which results in
PL(x) ¼
¼ 2I 0 e
2x (13)
@x
Equation 13 assumes a uniform incident microwave
power distribution at the concrete surface. However, in
most microwave heating systems, the incident micro-
wave power follows a sinusoidal microwave power dis-
tribution known as the TE10 microwave mode. Ong and
Akbarnezhad (2006) modified Lambert’s law equation
to account for the sinusoidal distribution of microwave
power
 
a
y
ð Þ
PL(x) ¼ 2 3 2I 0 3 e
2x
3 sin 
2
(14)
2a
where 2a is the width of the waveguide. Equation 14
assumes that the incident energy is completely trans-
ferred into the concrete block. To consider the effect of
reflection at the concrete surface, the energy calculated
using Equation 14 may be multiplied by the transmis-
sivity coefficient of concrete.
Heat transfer
Since the water permeability of concrete is about
three orders of magnitude smaller than the heat con-
ductivity, heat transfer through the movement of water
can be neglected and thus the heat transfer equation
may be considered as
@T
rc ¼
=  ð
K=T Þ þ PL(x) (15)
@t
Here, r is the mass density of concrete, t is time, T is
temperature, = is the gradient operator, c is the specific
heat of concrete, K is heat conductivity and PL(x) is
the distributed source of heat. Once the heat source
PL(x) is known from the solution of the Maxwell’s
equations or Lambert’s law, Equation 15 may be used
to calculate the temperature distribution inside the
microwave-heated concrete block. As the next step, the
temperature distribution obtained is used as the input
data for the thermal stress analysis.

Table 3. The minimum thickness of concrete block for validity of Lambert’s law

Frequency: GHz Minimum thickness of concrete block: cm

Wet Saturated Air-dried Oven-dried

2.45 10.96 19.97 122.53 161.30

10.60 2.47 4.23 9.40 25.09
18.00 1.36 2.31 3.93 11.40

882 Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 12

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Heat transfer boundary conditions
In microwave decontamination, besides convection,
heat loss may occur either through conductive heat loss
to the surrounding unheated concrete or through radia-
tion. Hence, the heat transfer boundary condition may
be considered as
=T  n þ Bi(T
Ta ) þ S(T 4
Ta ) ¼ 0 (16)
where Bi is the Biot number, S is the radiation number,
n is the normal to the boundary and Ta is the ambient
temperature.
Structural boundary conditions
As part of a large concrete block, the heated zone
displacement is restricted by the unheated parts of the
block and therefore simply supported boundary condi-
tions may be considered
Ux ¼ U y ¼ Uz ¼ 0 (17)
Electromagnetic boundary conditions
Besides the structural and heat transfer boundary
conditions, electromagnetic boundary conditions should
be appropriately imposed to ensure that the wave propa-
gation in the concrete block matches its actual behav-
iour. The electromagnetic boundary conditions used in
this study (Figure 1) are now briefly explained.
Perfect electric conductor (PEC). A perfect elec-
tric conductor (PEC) boundary (also called an electric
wall) is a surface on which the tangential component
of the vector electric field vanishes. As can be seen
in Figure 1, the PEC boundary condition is imposed
at the waveguide and antenna walls.
Surface impedance. A surface impedance bound-
ary condition is used to approximate the radiation
boundary. For the case of the interface between free
space and the model, the following expression may
be used to compute impedance
Z ¼ (0 =
0 )1=2 (18)
Perfectly matched layers (PMLs). The purpose of
an absorbing boundary condition is to absorb the out-
going electromagnetic wave so that there are no re-
flections back into the finite-element computational
domain.
Effects of embedded reinforcing bars
Bažant and Zi (2003) examined the effects of the
presence of reinforcing bars on the microwave deconta-
mination process by considering the area fraction of the
steel bars (as a proportion of the wall surface) to be
about 19%. For simplicity, a series of strips of the
medium with and without reinforcement perpendicular
to the microwave incident surface was considered. The
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Microwave decontamination of concrete
overall average volumetric heat generation was postu-
lated as the average heat generated by two such adja-
cent strips. Bažant and Zi concluded that the effect of
embedded reinforcing bars is negligible at higher ap-
plied microwave frequencies. However, it is well known
that the use of Lambert’s law to approximate the micro-
wave power dissipation in multi-layer materials usually
leads to unsatisfactory results, as reported by Ayappa et
al. (1991). Therefore, application of Lambert’s law to
estimate the microwave power dissipation in a rein-
forced concrete is not recommended.
In this paper, the electric field distribution and its
resulting temperature distribution in a reinforced con-
crete block are examined using the more accurate Max-
well’s equations. The reinforcing bars may be
considered as perfect electric conductors. Hence,
microwaves are assumed to be completely reflected at
the interface between the concrete and the reinforcing
bars.
Results and discussion
The general equation solver module of the commer-
cially available COMSOL Multiphysics finite-element
software was used to solve the coupled electromag-
netic, heat transfer and structural problem explained.
The mechanical and thermal properties of concrete con-
sidered in this study are summarised in Table 4. Three
different frequencies of 2.45, 10.6 and 18 GHz were
considered and a constant microwave power of
1.1 MW/m2 was assumed.
Electric field in concrete
Variation of the z-component of the electric field
inside the concrete block at microwave frequencies of
2.45, 10.6 and 18 GHz is shown in Figure 2, and the
variation of the electric field’s norm in the concrete
block at these frequencies is shown in Figure 3. Having
computed the electric field’s norm inside the concrete
block, Equation 9 can be used to compute the average
energy dissipated per unit volume of concrete, which
can then be used as the power source in the heat
transfer equation to calculate the temperature rise. As
can be seen in Figures 2 and 3, an increase in micro-
wave frequency leads to faster dissipation of the elec-
Table 4. Mechanical and thermal properties of concrete
Density: kg/m3 2300
Specific heat: J/kg per K 1000
Thermal conductivity: W/m per K 3
Thermal expansion coefficient: 8C
1 12 3 10–6
Heat transfer coefficient of heat flux: W/m2 per K 10.0
Modulus of elasticity: GPa 48.5
Poisson’s ratio 0.12
Surface emissivity 0.9
Initial temperature: 8C 25
883
Akbarnezhad and Ong
4000
2·45 GHz, 5 s
2·45 GHz 140
10·6 GHz 10·6 GHz, 2 s
3000

Electric field in z-direction: V/m

18 GHz 120 18 GHz, 1 s
2000
100

Temperature: °C
1000 Lambert’s law
80
0
60
⫺1000
40
⫺2000
20
⫺3000 Exact solution
0 2 4 6 8 10
Distance from the microwave-exposed surface: cm 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
Distance from the microwave-exposed surface: cm
Figure 2. The z-component of electric field in a concrete
block subjected to different microwave frequencies at 1 W Figure 4. Temperature distribution in a saturated concrete
power after microwave heating at 2.45, 10.6 and 18 GHz frequencies
for 5, 2 and 1 s respectively (1.1 MW/m2 incident power)
4000
2·45 GHz
3500 10·6 GHz
the sine-shape of the TE10 microwave mode appears to
18 GHz
Electric field’s norm: V/m

3000 be a satisfactory approximation.

2500

2000 Thermal stresses

1500
Numerical prediction of the thermal stresses devel-
oped during microwave decontamination can be used to
1000 choose the optimum microwave frequency, power and
500 heating duration required to remove a specific thick-
ness of concrete surface. The results of the thermal
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 stress analysis in a saturated concrete block subjected
Distance from the microwave-exposed surface: cm to microwaves of different frequencies computed using
Lambert’s law and Maxwell’s equations are illustrated
Figure 3. The electric field’s norm in a concrete block in Figure 5. As can be seen, both methods predict
subjected to different microwave frequencies at 1 W power
relatively similar stress development patterns inside the
concrete block. Both sets of results confirm that con-
tric field within a thinner layer at the surface of the siderably high thermal stresses may be generated in the
concrete block. This confirms the initial assumption of surface layer of a concrete block, which may result in
the Lambert’s law approximation, which assumes an spalling of the surface layer. As can be seen, the thick-
exponential decay of microwave power in the concrete 100
block. 2·45 GHz, 5 s
10·6 GHz, 2 s
80 18 GHz, 1 s
Radial compressive stress: MPa

Temperature distribution
The temperature distributions at different frequencies 60
are illustrated in Figure 4. As can be seen, both meth- Exact solution
ods predict relatively similar microwave dissipation
depths and temperature distribution patterns in the con- 40
crete block, especially at higher microwave frequencies.
As expected, as the frequency increases, microwave
20
penetration is reduced and thus more energy is dissi- Lambert’s law
pated near the concrete surface. This results in a faster
temperature rise and higher temperature gradients with- 0
in a thinner surface layer. The results show that the 0 2 4 6 8 10
Distance from the microwave-exposed surface: cm
approximate Lambert’s law method can be satisfactorily
used to predict the temperature distribution inside a Figure 5. Radial compressive stress in a saturated concrete
concrete block. Moreover, the sine2 -shape incident after microwave heating at 2.45, 10.6 and 18 GHz frequencies
power distribution used in Lambert’s law to simulate for 5, 2 and 1 s respectively (1.1 MW/m2 incident power)
884 Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 12

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ness of the stressed surface layer decreases with an
increase in microwave frequency.
Effects of the presence of reinforcing bars
The temperature distribution in a reinforced saturated
concrete block subjected to microwaves of different
frequencies is illustrated in Figure 6, which shows that
the presence of reinforcing bars will generally lead to a
higher temperature rise within the surface layer of con-
crete. The effect of the reinforcing bars on the deconta-
mination process is expected to decrease with a
decrease in microwave penetration depth, especially
when the penetration depth is less than the cover to the
reinforcing steel. The microwave penetration depth may
decrease with an increase in microwave frequency or
the concrete’s water content. Figure 6 also shows that
the effect of the presence of reinforcing bars on the
temperature distribution within the cover concrete in a
saturated concrete block for frequencies of 10.6 and 18
GHz is almost negligible.
Conclusions
Both Maxwell’s equations and Lambert’s law have
been used to compute the temperature rise and thermal
stress development in a concrete block during micro-
wave decontamination. According to the results pre-
sented, the following conclusions may be drawn.
(a) The results obtained using both the modified Lam-
bert’s law and Maxwell’s equations are relatively
160
140 Rebar
120
Temperature: °C
100
Reinforced
80 concrete
60
40
20
0 Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, Chicago, Illinois, pp. 745–748.
0 2 4 6
Distance from the microwave-exposed surface: cm
Figure 6. Temperature distribution in a reinforced saturated
concrete block after microwave heating at 2.45, 10.6 and
18 GHz frequencies for 5, 2 and 1 s respectively (1.1 MW/m2
incident power)
Magazine of Concrete Research, 2010, 62, No. 12
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Microwave decontamination of concrete
similar, especially when higher microwave frequen-
cies are used.
(b) The results of this study confirm the capability of
high-frequency microwaves to remove the surface
layer of a concrete block through development of
localised high thermal stresses.
(c) Higher microwave frequencies result in higher
thermal stresses within a thinner surface layer.
(d) The sine2 -shape assumption for the incident power
distribution at the concrete surface is a good ap-
proximation of the sine-shape of the TE10 mode
used in commercially available microwave heating
systems.
(e) The presence of embedded reinforcing bars in a
concrete block will generally lead to a higher tem-
perature rise in the cover concrete. However, its
effect decreases with an increase in microwave
frequency.
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Microwave heating: an evaluation of power formulations. Chemical
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Bažant ZP and Zi G (2003) Decontamination of radionuclides from
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Discussion contributions on this paper should reach the editor by
1 June 2011
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