Frost-hardy plant tissues have developed strategies to cope with frost events without damage. This is a very interesting feature with regard to technical applications in construction industry, where frost damage is still a major concern. This contribution introduces a biologically inspired macroscopic modelling approach based on the Theory of Porous Media (TPM) to describe the coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical processes in plant tissues. The focus is, in particular, on the mass interactions within the plant tissue under frost conditions, which are the ice formation in the intercellular space and the dehydration of the tissue cells, which is a crucial property for frost-resistance. A numerical example illustrates the coupling of these mass interactions.

Temperatures below freezing point represent a common threat to standard construction materials, as a phase change of the pore content from liquid water to solid ice frequently leads to damage. However, frost‐resistant plants are able to withstand many cycles of freezing and thawing without any damage. Hence, the objective is to identify and analyse structural factors of frost‐resistant plant tissues and to develop a model, which includes their functional behaviour. Since frost‐resistant plant tissues are formed by ordered arrangements of cells with prescribed shape and size, they can be understood as an (anisotropic) natural porous material. Therefore, a customised modelling strategy based on the Theory of Porous Media (TPM) is proposed, which allows for the description of structural traits and the formation of ice within plant tissues. (© 2016 Wiley‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Many living organisms, particularly plant tissues, exhibit very interesting features with regard to technical applications. For example, many plant tissues are frost resistant, which is mainly due to the dehydration of their tissue cells as one of the crucial mechanisms to cope with subzero temperatures. In this contribution, a fully coupled thermo‐hydro‐mechanical model based on the Theory of Porous Media is applied to assess the impact of ice formation on the water content of the tissue cells. Special attention is paid to the water exchange from the cells to the macro‐pore space.