An engineering approach for permeability assessment of virtual cement-based materials

Abstract

A quick approach to estimate water permeability of virtual cement paste is outlined in this paper. Although the computational models developed by the authors are able to provide satisfactory results in comparison with experimental data, it is still interesting and meaningful to further limit the efforts. This paper therefore presents a simple mathematical model for permeability assessment. Only one parameter, i.e. waterfilled porosity, is required for the proposed model. The results from the presented mathematical model are compared with data obtained by other approaches. A good agreement can be observed, validating the presented method. Additionally, median pore throat size and connectivity of the capillary pores are plotted as a function of water-filled porosity to help understand the permeability changes in structural terms.