Analytical method for prediction of the water permeability of hardened cement paste

An analytical method for prediction of the water permeability of hardened cement paste is presented in this paper. Since capillary pores in cement paste have a considerably larger space and water permeability than gel pores, hardened cement paste is modeled as an isotropic two-phase composite material with capillary and gel pores included in two separated phases. Based on the general effective medium theory, an analytical solution is then derived for the water permeability of hardened cement paste. The key parameter involved in the analytical solution is determined by experimental calibration. Finally, the validity of the proposed analytical method is verified with the experimental results obtained from the literature.