Multiscale Prediction of Heat and Mass Transport Properties in Cement-Based Materials Based on Hydration...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Civil Engineering
• Chemical Engineering

Background:

• Cement-based materials exhibit complex hydration processes affecting their macroscopic properties.
• Accurate prediction of heat and mass transport is crucial for material durability and performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a multiscale prediction method linking hydration microstructure evolution to macroscopic transport properties.
• To establish a quantitative relationship between hydration kinetics and effective transport coefficients.

Main Methods:

• Coupling the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW)-CEMHYD3D hydration kinetics model with Mori-Tanaka homogenization theory.
• Treating cement-based materials as multiphase composites for unified calculation of effective properties.
• Utilizing DTW to calibrate hydration cycle numbers with real hydration time.

Main Results:

• The DTW-CEMHYD3D model significantly improves early-age hydration heat prediction accuracy.
• High coefficients of determination (0.9812 for thermal conductivity, 0.987 for diffusion) were achieved.
• Higher water-to-binder ratios increase the relative diffusion coefficient nonlinearly with age.

Conclusions:

• The proposed multiscale method provides accurate predictions for cement-based material properties.
• It offers a valuable tool for durability analysis and parameter determination in multiphysics models.
• Understanding the influence of mix design (water-to-binder ratio, fly ash) on transport properties is enhanced.