A multi-scale micromechanical investigation on thermal conductivity of cement-based composites

Cement-based composites (CBCs) are one of the most widely used materials in construction. An appealing characterization of thermal conductivity of CBCs plays an essential role to evaluate the energy consumption in buildings and to facilitate the development of novel thermal insulation materials. Based on Eshelby equivalent inclusion principle and multi-scale methodology, this paper attempted to present a generalized multi-scale micromechanical model in terms of thermal performance of the CBCs, which covers some classic models for thermal conductivity estimation. A Mori-Tanaka homogenization method was applied to investigate the thermal conductivity of the CBCs of different compounds, water-to-cement ratios and curing ages. In addition, saturation degree factor was considered. The results of this model are in good agreement with the experimental value, showing that the multi-scale model developed in this paper is able to evaluate the thermal conductivity of the CBCs in different conditions.