Mesoscale modelling of dynamic porosity in cement hydrate gel during a water sorption cycle: A lattice Boltzmann study

We describe a lattice Boltzmann modelling framework for fluid sorption coupled to a dynamic model of cement hydrate microstructure upon which it is possible to explore ideas of water sorption in cement emergent from NMR and other recent experimental studies. The results of the first simulations using the model are presented. We show that it is possible to extract transport and microstructural relaxation parameters from the simulations that are in good qualitative agreement with experiment. We discuss limitations of the methodology.

Automated summary

A lattice Boltzmann modelling framework is described for exploring water sorption in cement, coupled to a dynamic model of cement hydrate microstructure. The first simulations using the model show good qualitative agreement with experimental results in extracting transport and microstructural relaxation parameters. Limitations of the methodology are discussed.