Modelling the poromechanical behaviour of class G cement paste: A multiphysics approach from early age to hardened state

Abstract

Modelling cement-based materials from the early-age to the hardened state is crucial in numerous applications such as deep well cementing or 3D printing, which require comprehensive modelling of multiphysics couplings. To answer these requirements, a thermodynamically consistent time-dependent constitutive model based on the extent of hydration is developed in the framework of thermoporomechanics of partially saturated materials. Using minimal fitting, complex undrained oedometric tests on hydrating cement paste, combining effects of hydration progress, pore pressure evolution, elastic, viscous, and plastic deformations, are well reproduced numerically. In particular, the impact of early-age loading on the behaviour at a subsequent age, paramount in oil-well applications to understanding the consequences of pressurising the casing when the cement sheath is partially hydrated, is explained and quantitatively reproduced.