Modeling of Water Migration during Internal Curing

with Superabsorbent Polymers

Mateusz Wyrzykowski1; Pietro Lura2; Francesco Pesavento3; and Dariusz Gawin4

Abstract: The mobility of water in hardening cement paste is an important aspect in view of the effectiveness of internal curing. A
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

mechanistic-type numerical model of cementitious materials is applied for the analysis of water migration kinetics from internal curing
agents [superabsorbent polymers (SAP)] into hydrating cement pastes with a low water-to-cement ratio. It is shown that the release of curing
water at early age (i.e., during approximately the first day of hydration) allows for a uniform and practically instantaneous distribution of
water within the whole volume of cured paste, even if the distances for water migration are as high as 2–3 mm. The evolution of permeability
as a result of the hydration process is shown to have a major impact on the mobility of water in the cement paste. The depercolation of
capillary porosity may substantially inhibit the water transport. The analysis shows that a part of the water first received by the paste in
the proximity of the SAP can be later redistributed to a large volume of hardening paste, even after the permeability has become very low.
DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000448. © 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
CE Database subject headings: Curing; Polymer; High-strength concrete; Hydration.
Author keywords: Internal curing; Superabsorbent polymers; Modeling; High-performance concrete; Transport properties;
Water transport.

Introduction
Internal curing by means of superabsorbent polymers (SAP), also
referred to as water entrainment (Jensen and Hansen 2001, 2002),
has been recently applied as an efficient method for counteracting
self-desiccation and self-desiccation shrinkage (e.g., Jensen and
Hansen 2001, 2002; Jensen and Lura 2006; Lura et al. 2007).
The SAP are supposed to be uniformly distributed in the concrete
and act as internal water reservoirs, which first absorb water during
mixing and release it to the surrounding cement paste.
By adding SAP, it is possible to provide water curing in low
water-to-cement ratio (w/c) mixtures with a very fine structure
of porosity, in which the externally applied curing water is not able
to penetrate the regions of the material that are distant from
the cured surface. However, the issues related to the transport of
water within the matrix of the hardened cement paste need to be
addressed in the internally cured material, as well. Apart of the
issue of sufficient amount of entrained water (Jensen and Hansen
2001), it is also of fundamental importance that the entrained water
is accessible for the whole volume of cured paste. This requires that
1
Postdoctoral Researcher, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Mate-
rials Science and Technology, Switzerland; and Assistant Professor, Dept.
of Building Physics and Building Materials, Lodz Univ. of Technology,
Poland (corresponding author). E-mail: mateusz.wyrzykowski@empa.ch
2
Head of Laboratory, Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials
Science and Technology, Switzerland; and Professor, Institute for Building
Materials, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. E-mail: pietro.lura@empa.ch
3
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural En-
gineering, Univ. of Padova, Italy. E-mail: francesco.pesavento@dicea.unipd.it
4
Full Professor, Head of Dept. of Building Physics and Building Materi-
als, Lodz Univ. of Technology, Poland. E-mail: dariusz.gawin@p.lodz.pl
Note. This manuscript was submitted on May 9, 2011; approved on
December 14, 2011; published online on December 19, 2011. Discussion
period open until January 1, 2013; separate discussions must be submitted
for individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Materials in Civil
Engineering, Vol. 24, No. 8, August 1, 2012. ©ASCE, ISSN 0899-1561/
2012/8-1006–1016/$25.00.
the water should travel short distances within the reservoir-paste
proximity sufficiently quickly in comparison to the characteristic
times of hydration and self-desiccation. Thus, there are two aspects
that affect the dimensions of cured volume that need to be
addressed: The spatial distribution of reservoirs (Bentz and Snyder
1999; Igarashi et al. 2010) and the mobility of water in the hard-
ening cement paste (Lura et al. 2006; Henkensiefken et al. 2009).
This work deals principally with the latter issue.
The work by Bentz and Snyder (1999) was among the
first addressing the problem of the necessity of uniform access
of the cement paste to the internal curing water. They suggested
minimizing the reservoir-paste proximity by maximizing the
surface-to-volume ratio of the reservoirs (fine fractions of light
weight aggregates (LWA)], adapting the protected paste volume
approach known from air entrainment (Bentz and Snyder 1999).
They employed a three-dimensional (3D) microstructural hard
core–soft shell model (Bentz et al. 1999) to estimate the volume
of cement paste that is within a certain distance from the reservoirs
and thus has direct access to curing water. This distance was esti-
mated as 100-200 μm on the basis of a 3D microstructural model of
cement paste (Bentz and Garboczi 1991) as the limit for water
travel after the depercolation of the capillary porosity.
On the basis of microhardness measurements, Igarashi et al.
(2010) suggested that this self-desiccation-protected shell extends
at most 200 μm from the reservoir surface. Analyzing the spatial
distribution of SAP in cement paste matrices of w/c 0.25, they
found that the mean distance from an arbitrary point in the cement
paste to the nearest SAP surface was about 400 μm for an amount
of entrained water sufficient for complete internal curing. This
mean distance reduced only to 300 μm when the amount of
entrained water was doubled. On the basis of the spatial statistics
evaluations, they argued that it is not possible to cover the whole
volume of matrix with protected regions, even for high amounts of
entrained water. Igarashi et al. (2010) thus suggested that the high
mobility of water in the cement paste at early age may be a key
factor that allows for efficient internal curing.

1006 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.

 Some theoretical considerations were also used to estimate
the water flow distances. Bentz et al. (2007) suggested that the flow
distance in a w/c 0.40 concrete may decrease from up to 20 mm at
early ages to several millimeters at intermediate ages of hydration.
It seems, however, that these long distances may be strongly limited
after the depercolation of capillary porosity (Bentz and Garboczi
1991; Ye 2004). Thus, whereas advantageous for durability, from
the point of view of internal curing, depercolation at an early
age may be inconvenient in view of water distribution in the cement
paste.
Various experimental methods have been employed to investi-
gate the issue of curing water distribution in maturing cement
pastes and to determine the maximum distance that this water
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
can travel (e.g., Zhutovsky et al. 2004; Friedemann et al. 2006;
Lura et al. 2006; Henkensiefken et al. 2011; Nestle et al. 2009; Trtik
et al. 2010, 2011). On the basis of nuclear magnetic resonance
(NMR) measurements, Friedemann et al. (2006) suggested that
the curing water from alginate spheres can travel a distance of
roughly 10 mm from the reservoir during the first 10 h of hydration
in a cement paste of w/c 0.30. Using X-ray radiography, Lura et al.
(2006) observed that water could migrate up to roughly 4 mm from
a saturated pumice aggregate at early ages in a w/c 0.30 cement
paste. Similar results were reported by Henkensiefken et al.
(2011), who observed a travel distance in a w/c 0.30 cement paste
equal to roughly 2 mm from the LWA surface for ages of up to
3 days. Using neutron tomography, Trtik et al. (2010, 2011) ob-
served hardly any gradients of water content against the distance
up to approximately 2.5 mm from the reservoirs (LWA or SAP)
in a w/c 0.25 cement paste in the first day of hydration.
However, it needs to be noted that the concept of a strictly
determined distance for water travel, although providing some
important indications regarding the size distribution of reservoirs,
is a severe simplification. In this kind of approach, it is assumed
that the volume up to a certain distance from the reservoir is cured,
whereas the rest is not cured at all. This originates from the
assumption that the water needs to be transported from the reser-
voirs only to the distant regions of paste. In reality, however, this
phenomenon is more complex in nature because of the fact that the
water is distributed not only from a reservoir to the immediate prox-
imity in the cement paste but will also redistribute in the
cement paste from the regions of higher saturation to those neigh-
boring regions of lower saturation. Thus, no explicit boundary
for curing water will exist. This mechanism was also recently
suggested by Igarashi et al. (2010).
Performing a consistent analysis of the aforementioned issues
is the main motivation for the present work. This paper shows that
the application of numerical modeling may be helpful in under-
standing these complex phenomena related to water transport in
the hardening cement paste. An example of such an approach is
also the recent work by Mönnig (2009), who adapted the DuCOM
model (Maekawa 1999) for the analysis of phenomena taking place
in concrete during internal curing.
In this paper, a recently developed numerical model (Gawin et al.
2006a), based on a mechanistic-type approach and describing ce-
mentitious materials as multiphase porous media, is used for the
modeling of water transport from SAP into maturing cement paste.
The simulations presented concern the hydration of internally cured
cement pastes with different sizes of SAP and different w/c ratios.
Modeling of Water Transport in Cement Paste
The model by Gawin et al. (2006a) is used to describe the water
transport from the internal reservoirs to the cement paste. The
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012 / 1007
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
model was recently used for the analysis of various phenomena
in maturing cementitious materials (Gawin et al. 2006a, b, 2007,
2008), in particular for the simulations of the influence of internal
curing on self-desiccation and self-desiccation shrinkage in mortar
(Wyrzykowski et al. 2011). To address important aspects related
to the analyzed phenomena, some details of the model will be
provided in this paper. For a detailed description of the model equa-
tions and their numerical solutions, see Gawin et al. (2006a, b).
Model Equations and Parameters Governing the Water
Transport
Cement-based materials (concrete, mortar, or cement paste) are
considered as multiphase porous media, with pores partially filled
with a liquid phase (bound water and capillary water) and partially
with a gaseous phase (a mixture of dry air and water vapor).
The model equations in the macroscopic formulation are
obtained in Gawin et al. (2006a) by means of successive
volume-averaging from the microscale with the hybrid mixture
theory developed by Hassanizadeh and Gray (1979). The constit-
utive relationships account for various mechanisms of mass and
energy transport characteristic for specific phases in concrete
and for hydration process and mechanical performance. The final
volume-averaged governing equations of the model are two mass
conservation equations (continuity equations) written for dry air
and water species and involving the solid skeleton mass conserva-
tion enthalpy conservation equation and linear momentum balance
(mechanical equilibrium) equation. The equations are written in
terms of the following primary variables: Gas pressure pg , capillary
pressure pc (describing the hygral state), temperature T, and dis-
placement vector u. The superscripts refer to the intrinsic values
related to the single phase. The internal variable of the model is
the normalized hydration degree γhydr , which is obtained by nor-
malizing the hydration degree α with its ultimate value α∞ . In this
work, the hydration degree α is consistently used and is defined as
the ratio of the amount of cement consumed with respect to its ini-
tial content. The governing equations are discretized in space by
means of the finite-element method (FEM), (e.g., Zienkiewicz
and Taylor 2000). The time discretization of the model equations
is carried out with the fully implicit scheme of the finite-difference
method.
The use of the aforementioned equations allows the couplings
between the phenomena of different natures and the nonlinearity of
material behavior to be taken into account. However, analyzing the
internal curing process taking place at the mesoscopic level
(i.e., within volumes at the scale of millimeters), some simplifica-
tions regarding the original formulation by Gawin et al. (2006a) can
be made. The small deformations of the medium may be found to
be of negligible importance in view of water transport, and thus, the
solid skeleton is considered as rigid in the analysis.
Even if autogenous conditions as proposed by Jensen and
Hansen (1996) are not fulfilled and temperature gradients exist
within the volume of the material at the macroscopic level,
it can still be assumed that at the mesolevel the temperature is
uniform within the analyzed small volume of the material. Thus,
analyzing the transport of water from the SAP to the surrounding
cement paste, the transport induced by a temperature gradient may
also be neglected.
Furthermore, assuming isothermal conditions within the
volume, the terms related to temperature changes in time as pro-
posed in the original formulation by Gawin et al. (2006a) may also
be neglected. Such an assumption is in agreement with the condi-
tions in which autogenous phenomena are commonly determined
experimentally and analyzed (e.g., Jensen and Hansen 1996; Lura
et al. 2003; Lura and Jensen 2007) and thus will be used in this
 work. However, the model still enables the analysis of phenomena
caused or accompanied by the temperature change induced by the
hydration process or external heating or cooling. Taking the afore-
mentioned conditions into account, from the point of view of water
transport during internal curing, the analysis may be limited to two
mass conservation equations.
The mass conservation equation for water species, involving
the solid skeleton mass balance, neglecting the movement as a
result of gravity and whole medium deformations, and assuming
the temperature is constant in time and uniform in the whole
analyzed volume, is written as (Gawin et al. 2006a)

 gw 
∂Sw ∂pc g M a M w gw p pffiffiffiffiffi
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
kk rw
ð
gradpg þ gradpc Þ ð3Þ
μw
The terms in the parentheses are a result of the gradient of the
water pressure pw because pw ¼ pg
pc (Gawin et al. 2006a). In
view of Eq. (3), the material parameters responsible for how fast
and how far the water will be distributed in the maturing paste are
the intrinsic permeability k and the relative water permeability krw.
The latter parameter allows for the generalization of Darcy’s law for
partially saturated media (Bear 1988) and may be expressed as a
function of the saturation degree of pores with water
(Baroghel-Bouny et al. 1999):

nðρ
ρ Þ c
w gw

div ρ Dd grad g krw ¼ Sw ½1
ð1
Swb Þ1∕b 2 ð4Þ
∂p ∂t M 2g p

rg

kIk where b = positive material constant assumed as equal to 2.17
þ div ρgw g ð
gradpg Þ
μ (Baroghel-Bouny et al. 1999). It is worth noting that according

rw
 to Eq. (4), the transport velocity decreases approximately 10 times
w kIk
þ div ρ ð
gradp þ gradp Þ
g c when the saturation decreases from 100 to 80%.
μw With the progress of the hydration process and with the develop-
ρgw ρw ment of the pore structure, the intrinsic permeability of a cement
¼ s ð1
Sw Þm_ hydr þ s Sw m_ hydr
m_ hydr ð1Þ
ρ ρ paste decreases by several orders of magnitude (Halamickova et al.
1995; Cui and Cahyadi 2001; Vichit-Vadakan and Scherer 2003;
Ye 2004; Ye et al. 2006). This is the reason why a proper estimation
where indices g, w, gw, and s = gaseous phase, liquid water, water
of the intrinsic permeability value will have a dominant influence
vapor, and solid phase, respectively; t = time; n = porosity; Sw =
on the observed results concerning curing water availability during
saturation degree of pores with liquid water (both capillary and
internal curing. The problem that occurs, however, is that the
physically adsorbed); and ρ = density. The first term on the left-
experimental methods used for determination of permeability do
hand side (LHS) of Eq. (1) is the accumulation term for water mass.
not allow for measurements at very early ages during the first
The second term on the LHS of Eq. (1) is the flux term caused by
day of hydration.
the diffusive flow of water vapor in the gaseous mixture of vapor
Various modeling approaches have been applied to describe
and dry air, described by Fick’s law, with M π being the molar mass
the issue of permeability evolution during maturing (see Katz
(π ¼ a, g, w) and Dgwd the effective diffusivity tensor (Gawin et al. and Thompson 1986; Garboczi 1990; Garboczi and Bentz 1996;
2006a). The two remaining terms on the LHS are the result of the
Cui and Cahyadi 2001; Ye 2004; Ye et al. 2006). Physical models
advective flow of vapor and of liquid water, respectively. The ad-
[e.g., the Katz-Thompson model (Katz and Thompson 1986);
vective flow is described with Darcy’s law, with k being the intrin-
see also Garboczi (1990) and Ye (2004)] need as an input the
sic permeability (assuming isotropy of the medium) and I the
characteristics of the pore structure, which may be obtained exper-
second-order unit tensor; krπ being the relative permeability
imentally (in particular, by means of mercury intrusion porosimetry
(π ¼ g, w) (Bear 1988); and μπ being the dynamic viscosity
and electrical conductivity measurements) or optionally, provided
(π ¼ g, w). The right-hand side of Eq. (1) describes the source
by some computer-based models of microstructure evolution
terms, where the two first terms are the actual sources of skeleton
(e.g., Garboczi and Bentz 1996; Ye 2004; Ye et al. 2006). However,
because of the decrease of pores volume caused by the buildup of
the permeabilities estimated with the computer-based models
hydration products m_ hydr ∕ρs and the last term is the actual sink
are strongly affected by the assumed resolution (Ye 2004, Ye et al.
as a result of the mass of the water consumed by hydrating cement
2006).
m_ hydr .
The general trend is that both the physical models and the
The mass conservation equation for dry air, involving the solid
computer-based models overestimate the values of permeability
skeleton mass balance, is obtained as (Gawin et al. 2006a)
by up to several orders of magnitude (Ye 2004). This is especially

 ga  the case when gel porosity plays a primary role in water transport;
∂Sw ∂pc g M a M w ga p thus for example, for low w/c mixtures and at later ages. On the
nρga
div ρ D grad
∂p ∂t
c
Mg 2 d
pg contrary, for very early age mixtures, the Katz-Thompson model

 (Katz and Thompson 1986) was shown to provide a good agree-
kIkrg
þ div pga g ð
gradpg Þ ð2Þ ment with experimental data even for low water-to-cement ratios
μ (Garboczi 1990; Ye 2004). On the basis of the experimental work
 ga c 
∂ρ ∂p ∂ρga ∂pg ρga by Halamickova et al. (1995), Gawin et al. (2006a) assumed an
þ ð1
Sw Þn þ ¼ s ð1
Sw Þm_ hydr
∂p ∂t
c ∂p ∂t
g ρ exponential relation of the intrinsic permeability versus the normal-
ized hydration degree (Gawin et al. 2006a):
where index ga = dry air. k ¼ k ∞ 10Ak Γhydr ð5Þ
What must be discussed in detail is the term describing the
advective flow of liquid water occurring in Eq. (1) because this where k∞ = permeability at the ultimate hydration degree; and
is the most efficient mechanism of mass transport at the levels Ak = material parameter, with the value of approximately 6–10.
of saturation normally encountered during the maturing of concrete It must be noted that such an approach is not able to describe
(Gawin et al. 2006a), especially in the case of internal curing. the permeability evolution in low w/c cement pastes. This is be-
The term governing this transport mechanism reads (Bear 1988; cause of the so-called depercolation of capillary porosity, which
Gawin et al. 2006a) is responsible for the steep drop of permeability at later ages

1008 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.

 (Ye 2004, 2005). At a certain value of capillary porosity, called
the depercolation threshold, the capillary pores do not form a con-
tinuous path through the medium any longer, and gel porosity starts
to control the transport of water.
Cui and Cahyadi (2001) applied the general effective media
(GEM) theory to predict the permeability of low w/c ratio cement
pastes during the whole period of material maturing, obtaining a
very good agreement with the experimental data. The model
describes the porosity of the cement paste as a composite system
consisting of the highly permeable capillary porosity and the low-
permeability gel porosity. This approach was also applied in this
paper, replacing the Eq. (5) originally proposed in Gawin et al.
(2006a). The modeled evolution of permeability described in this
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
way will be presented in the following sections.
As cement hydrates, the water is consumed from the pores of the
paste, which leads to the decrease of the saturation degree Sw .
Along with this process, the capillary pressure increases in the pore
water because of the creation of menisci; the capillary pressure in
turn governs the water transport from the SAP to the cement paste.
The sorption isotherm, which relates the pressure growth with the
desaturation of pores, is described in accordance with the following
equation (Barogel-Bouny et al. 1999):

 c b∕ðb
1Þ 
1∕b
p extra water, which leads to maintaining a higher saturation degree
Sw ¼ 1 þ ð6Þ
a
where a and b = material parameters. For a cementitious material,
these parameters may be determined experimentally on the basis of
sorption isotherms (Barogel-Bouny et al. 1999). Although Eq. (6)
does not explicitly take the development of material properties at
an early age into account, it can be used for early age materials if
the appropriate determination of parameters on the basis of hydra-
tion evolution, Powers’ model for saturation degree evolution
(Hansen 1986), and autogenous relative humidity (RH) measure-
ments is performed (Wyrzykowski et al. 2011).
From the point of view of water release description, the sorption
isotherms are important both for the SAP and for the cement paste.
The very steep desorption of the SAP at high RH [higher than
approximately 98% (Jensen and Hansen 2002)] allows them to
provide the major part of the absorbed water within the initial
stages of cement hydration and thus efficiently prevent self-
desiccation. At the same time, the character of the desorption curve
for the cement paste determines how much the capillary pressure
will increase for a certain consumption of water as a result of
hydration and thus how large the drainage of water from the
SAP will be.
Modeling of Water Transport at the Mesolevel
In this work, the transport of water from the reservoirs (SAP) to the
cured matrix (cement paste) is observed at the mesoscopic level
(i.e., within volumes of sizes up to several millimeters).
In this work, only the case of water transport from the SAP into
the cement paste is analyzed. For the analysis of internal curing in
mortar or concrete, aggregates with sizes comparable with or
greater than the reservoirs, together with the interfacial transition
zone between the aggregates and the paste, need to be taken into
account as well because their presence may strongly affect the
distribution of curing water (Bentz and Snyder 1999).
It must be mentioned that although the model is thought to
describe multiphase porous media like cement paste or concrete
at the macroscopic level, with proper assumptions, it can be also
used for the description of water release from SAP reservoirs at the
mesoscopic level.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012 / 1009
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
It was observed (Trtik et al. 2010) that as the SAP release water,
their leftovers collapse into the inside of the initially water-
entrained pores. As a result, after a portion of water is released,
part of the initially water-filled pore becomes gas filled, and the
shrunk polymer stays connected to a part of the macropore's wall.
It is also possible that for smaller SAP particles, the macropores are
being filled with hydration products during maturing (Jensen and
Hansen 2002). Such behavior cannot be properly described with
the present model. Instead, it is approximated by modeling an
inclusion for which the shape does not change, but the water
saturation degree decreases as water is released. Naturally, the
SAP are treated as an inert material, whereas the surrounding
cement paste undergoes the hydration process.
The phenomena observed in the simulations at the mesolevel
may be briefly characterized as follows. As hydration of the cement
proceeds, the pores of the paste are being emptied, and a capillary
pressure gradient is formed between the paste and the reservoirs.
The capillary pressure development is generally agreed to be the
main driving force for water transport from water reservoirs to
the paste (e.g., Lura et al. 2006, 2012; Nestle et al. 2009; Trtik et al.
2010;).
With the development of capillary pressure, the water is drained
from the reservoirs, and the pores of the paste are provided with that
and thus higher RH in the maturing paste, which also promotes its
hydration.
It is worth noting that although in this paper the mesolevel
simulations are thought to describe the experimental specimen
(Trtik et al. 2010), they can also serve for two-scale modeling
of internal curing. Using such a scheme (Feyel 1999), the mesolevel
model is treated as the representative elementary volume (REV),
and the results from the REV are further upscaled to the macrolevel.
Numerical Analysis
Description of the Simulations
The numerical analysis presented in this paper is aimed mainly at
the understanding of the kinetics of additional water release and its
spatial distribution within the volume of the cement paste and is in
general based on the experimental work by Trtik et al. (2010), who
used neutron tomography for the observation of water migration
from SAP reservoirs to a maturing cement paste of w/c 0.25.
The water transport was observed in a small (3-mm radius) cylin-
drical mold filled with cement paste. Approximately along the axis
of symmetry, two SAP particles were introduced into the paste.
Very large SAP particles (about 1 mm in the dry state and
2.5 mm in the swollen state), designed specifically for that experi-
ment, were used by Trtik et al. (2010). The longest distance from
the surface of the reservoir to the boundary of the sample was ap-
proximately 2.5 mm. The commercially available SAP, applied
commonly for internal curing, usually have smaller dimensions
of approximately 50–250 μm in the dry state and 100–800 μm
in the swollen state (Jensen and Hansen 2001, 2002; Lura et al.
2007; Igarashi et al. 2010).
The choice of such large SAP particles not only allowed for a
better observation of the desorption process because of a limited
resolution of neutron tomography (Trtik et al. 2010) but also re-
sulted in an extremely large volume of the paste surrounding the
reservoirs. This geometry was especially desired to investigate
the cases in which the water travels extreme distances. It is noticed
that even if the water distribution is not found to be uniform within
the observed cylinder (Trtik et al. 2010), this does not mean that the
 same situation will occur for SAP of sizes usually employed in
practice. In addition to the case that compares directly to the
experimental work (Trtik et al. 2010), to investigate the issue of
water transport in different conditions, other cases were analyzed
as well, as detailed in Table 1.
The volume ratio occupied by SAP inclusions in the volume of
the specimen was equal to 6.2% in the original experiment (Trtik
et al. 2010). The porosity of the SAP defined as the ratio of volume
occupied by water respect to the total volume of the swollen SAP
may be estimated as equal to 94.1% (16/17) based on the pore fluid
absorption of 16 g∕g (Trtik et al. 2010) and assumed density of dry
polymer of 1 g∕cm3 . This corresponds to an entrained water to
cement ratio w/ce of approximately 0.035. Such an amount of en-
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.

trained water is not sufficient to provide complete internal curing;

according to Jensen and Hansen (2001), the w/ce should be equal to
0.045 for a w/c 0.25 cement paste.
The analyzed Case A is thought to describe directly the exper-
imental specimen (Trtik et al. 2010), in which a case of extremely
long travel distances for curing water was observed experimentally.
In Case B, the ways in which the water transport process changes Fig. 1. (a) Tomography image of the specimen used in experiment by
with an increasing amount of entrained water are analyzed, keeping Trtik et al. (2010), where the dark inclusions are the SAP and the inner
the size of the SAP equal to 2.4 mm and hence a long distance for cylinder is the surrounding cement paste (adapted with permission from
water travel. Case C refers to the realistic situation, with a sufficient RILEM); (b) The FEM mesh (axisymmetric analysis) describing the
amount of entrained water, and SAP that are approximately at the cylinder used in the simulations for the corresponding Case A
higher-boundary of the sizes used in internal curing practice
(800 μm). In Case D, a problem similar to the one in Case B is
analyzed for a w/c 0.30 cement paste.
The geometrical model used in the following analysis for Case maturing up to 360 s at later ages. The analyzed period was 14 days
A was created on the basis of the specimen used in the experiment after setting.
by Trtik et al. (2010). Because of the approximate axial symmetry The parameters governing the hydration evolution according
of the specimen, an axisymmetric analysis was performed. In Fig. 1, to the affinity model (Ulm and Coussy 1996; Cervera et al. 2002;
the half-section of the cylinder analyzed for Case A is presented. Gawin et al. 2006a) were calibrated on the basis of calorimetry tests
The FEM meshes of the half-sections were composed of 223 and (Trtik et al. 2010) for w/c 0.25 cement paste, assuming a heat of
290 eight-node elements for Case A and Cases B–D, respectively. hydration of 528 J∕g (Wyrzykowski et al. 2011).
In the simulations presented in this paper, it is assumed that both of The initial and final porosity values of the cement pastes were
the SAP inclusions have initially the same size. For Cases B–D, the calculated on the basis of Powers’ model (Hansen 1986). In
geometrical model was similar to Case A, but the dimensions of the Wyrzykowski et al. (2011), the parameters governing the sorption
cylinder were slightly decreased to obtain the required increased isotherm and hence the self-desiccation process were determined
volumetric ratio of the SAP reservoirs (Table 1). for the w/c 0.3 mortar. On the basis of the investigations per-
Trtik et al. (2010) observed that the two SAP began to release formed within the scope of the experimental work described in
water at different times: 3 and 9 h, for the presaturated, and Wyrzykowski et al. (2011), it may be assumed that self-desiccation
dry-inserted SAP, respectively. In the simulations, the initial point proceeds in a similar way in the cement pastes and in the corre-
referring to the initial setting of the cement paste was assumed at sponding mortars, especially as long as fine fractions of the aggre-
the age of 3 h. It is assumed that both SAP start to release water at gates are not present. Thus, the parameters occurring in Eq. (6),
the same time. determined in Wyrzykowski et al. (2011) were used for the cement
The initial conditions were assumed as RH ¼ 99:9%, pastes, leading to the evolution of RH in the plain cement pastes
T 0 ¼ 28°C, and α0 ¼ 0:05. Autogenous conditions were assumed presented in Fig. 2.
[i.e., isothermal conditions with T ¼ 28°C (Trtik et al. 2010] and no The sorption isotherm for SAP is characterized by an extremely
exchange of moisture with the environment]. The length of the time steep drop of saturation at high RH. Jensen and Hansen (2002)
steps varied during the computation, from 1 s for the first hours of observed for a certain type of SAP a free absorption of synthetic
pore fluid equal to 37 g∕g, whereas at 97.5% RH, the absorption
determined with saturated salt solutions was approximately 3 g∕g.
Table 1. Cases Analyzed in the Simulations
From that, it seems obvious that the SAP release the major part of
the absorbed fluid when the RH is decreased to approximately
Property/Case A B C D 97.5%. However, it is extremely difficult to determine experimen-
w/c 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.30 tally the desorption isotherm of the SAP at RH higher than approx-
w/ce 0.035 0.050 0.050 0.050 imately 98%. Although the pore fluid absorption of SAP equal to
SAP size 2.4 mm 2.4 mm 800 μm 2.4 mm
approximately 16 g∕g used in Trtik et al. (2010) was smaller than
in Jensen and Hansen (2002), it was assumed that the character of
Cylinder radius 3.0 mm 2.6 mm 868 μm 2.6 mm
the desorption was similar to Jensen and Hansen (2002) (Fig. 3).
Volume ratio of 6.2% 8.7% 8.7% 8.7%
reservoirs Evolution of Permeability
Maximum water 2.5 mm 2.2 mm 740 μm 2.2 mm
As previously mentioned, the permeability of the cement paste is
travel distance
of major importance regarding the water transport during internal

1010 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.

Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Fig. 2. Evolution of autogenous relative humidity for plain cement
pastes
Fig. 3. Sorption isotherm for SAP assumed in the simulations, com-
pared with experimental data adapted from Jensen and Hansen (2002)
curing. The GEM theory adapted by Cui and Cahyadi (2001)
for permeability description was also used in this work. The
GEM model predictions were approximated with simple exponen-
tial relations to be easily implemented into the model of maturing
cementitious material (Gawin et al. 2006a) (Fig. 4).
Similarly, as in Cui and Cahyadi (2001), the volume fraction of
capillary porosity was calculated on the basis of Powers’ model
(Hansen 1986), and the relative conductivity of the porosity was
calculated on the basis of the empirical relation by Garboczi
and Bentz (1996). The dependence of the threshold diameter upon
the hydration degree is described here by means of an exponential
relation, which is a reasonable simplification in view of the exper-
imental data (Nyame and Illston 1980; Ye 2004). This is especially
true because according to the model (Cui and Cahyadi 2001), this
parameter affects the permeability rather before the depercolation,
when it is still high, and thus, some errors are of lesser importance,
whereas at a later age, the low-permeability of calcium-silicate-
hydrates (C-S-H) gel dominates. The latter was assumed after
Powers (1958) as equal to 7 · 10
23 m2 . The GEM model allows
for a description of the transition from a higher permeability regime
governed mainly by capillary porosity to a lower permeability re-
gime governed by the gel porosity on the basis of the volume ratios
of the two porosities. This transition is described as a gradual
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012 / 1011
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
Fig. 4. Evolution of the intrinsic permeability of w/c 0.25 and w/c 0.30
cement pastes obtained with the GEM model (Cui and Cahyadi 2001)
and approximated with exponential functions in the simulations; note
that the effective permeability will be lower because of the
desaturation of pores and is accounted for by means of Eq. (4)
process, being the effect of the continuous closing of capillary paths
with the hydration products. The depercolation of capillary porosity
is related to a given value of capillary porosity, the so-called deper-
colation threshold (e.g., Bentz and Garboczi 1991). In view of in-
ternal curing, the depercolation of capillary pores at an early age
(corresponding to a high value for the depercolation threshold) is a
potentially negative phenomenon because the blocking of capillary
paths and the corresponding dramatic decrease of permeability
can strongly inhibit or even block the access of curing water to
the cement paste.
Cui and Cahyadi (2001) assume the depercolation threshold as
0.18 after Garboczi and Bentz (1991, 1996). A similar value can be
deduced from the experimental observations of water transport in a
w/c 0.3 cement paste by Lura et al. (2006), who suggested that it
took place at the degree of hydration α ¼ 0:51. On the basis of
computer-based modeling and also of the analysis of experimental
data, Ye (2005) argued that the depercolation threshold may be
much lower, even approximately 0.05. According to Ye (2005),
the depercolation may never take place in some cement pastes, even
when the w/c is low and even after a very long period of maturing.
To examine the possible problem of inhibited internal curing
process as a result of depercolation taking place already at an early
age, only the case of a high depercolation threshold of 0.18 will
be presented in this paper as the extreme case. Simulations carried
out similarly as in the following section, but with an assumed de-
percolation threshold of 0.05, show that the permeability is always
high enough to enable the instantaneous compensation of self-
desiccation and thus uniform saturation distribution in the cured
paste during the whole period of water release from the SAP.
According to Powers’ model, the capillary porosity drops to the
value of the assumed threshold of 0.18 at the degree of
hydration α ¼ 0:41 and α ¼ 0:53 for the w/c 0.25 and w/c 0.30
cement pastes, respectively.
As can be seen in Fig. 4, the transition in the character of
the intrinsic permeability development starts to be visible some
time before the depercolation of capillary pores takes place, which
is in agreement with the gradual character of the phenomenon of the
closing of pores. For a w/c 0.25 cement paste hydrating at 28 °C,
this takes place at α ¼ 0:35 (roughly 20 h after setting in the cured
 paste) and for w/c 0.30 at α ¼ 0:46 (roughly 60 h after setting
in the cured paste).
It is worth underlining that the values of intrinsic permeability
below 1 · 10
22 m2 obtained with the GEM model (Cui and
Cahyadi 2001) at later stages of hydration (Fig. 4) allow an inves-
tigation of the most unfavorable case in terms of water distribution
during internal curing. Such extremely low values are in agreement
with some experimental observations. Cui and Cahyadi (2001),
by measuring the water penetration depth, determined the per-
meability of the cement paste of w/c 0.3 as equal to approximately
3 · 10
21 m2 at 7 days and less than 3 · 10
23 m2 at 210 days.
Halamickova et al. (1995), by using a permeability cell, measured
a permeability of a w/c 0.4 cement paste of approximately
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
4 · 10
21 m2 . On the basis of the beam-bending method, Vichit-
Vadakan and Scherer (2003) reported the value of approximately
6 · 10
22 m2 for the cement paste of w/c 0.45 at 3 days. On the
basis of numerical modeling results and weight loss measurements,
Baroghel-Bouny et al. (1999) estimated values of 3 · 10
23 m2 and
1 · 10
21 m2 for cement pastes of w/c 0.19 and 0.34,
respectively.
In the following sections, when permeability is discussed,
the effective permeability is meant, being the product of intrinsic
permeability and relative water permeability, kkrw [see Eq. (3)].
Fig. 5. Saturation evolution in SAP; time from initial setting
Fig. 6. Saturation evolution in cement pastes during internal curing for different analyzed cases; the close curves refer to a point in the immediate
vicinity of SAP , whereas the distant curves refer to a point at a distance specified in Table 1; time from initial setting
1012 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
Kinetics of Desorption from SAP
Because of the high permeability assumed for the SAP, in all
analyzed cases, the saturation was uniformly distributed during
the release of water in the whole volume of SAP inclusions. In
Fig. 5, the saturation evolution in the SAP inclusions is presented.
Trtik et al. (2010) reported that at the age of 20.5 h (approxi-
mately 17 h after the initial setting) approximately 90% of the
absorbed water was released from the SAP to the cement paste.
In the simulations for the corresponding case A, at the age of
17 h after setting, the saturation of the SAP dropped by approxi-
mately 87%, which is in a good agreement with the experimental
observations (Trtik et al. 2010). By the end of the second day of
maturing, the SAP contained only 7% of the initial water. If more
water is entrained into the volume of the cement paste of the same
w/c of 0.25, the rate of desaturation of the SAP visibly decreases
(see Cases B and C) (Fig. 5). By the end of the first day of maturing,
the SAP release only about 79% of the absorbed water. This is
because the release of water from the SAP is controlled by the
sorption isotherm. In view of this approach, water release is a
self-inhibiting process: The more water that is provided, the higher
the saturation and the lower the absolute value of the capillary pres-
sure in the cured paste; hence, the driving force for water drainage
is limited. Lower water consumption in a w/c 0.30 cement paste
(Case D) and the resulting higher levels of saturation and RH main-
tained in the paste (Fig. 2), lead to a lower demand for curing water
and thus a slower water release from SAP.
Distribution of Curing Water in the Cement Paste
As previously mentioned, to fully use the entrained water, it is
essential that the water from a single internal reservoir is distributed
to its vicinity sufficiently quickly (i.e., that the whole reservoir-
paste proximity is uniformly cured). This issue may be investigated
in different ways. One of the most direct ways is to observe the
distribution of saturation in the cement paste (Figs. 6 and 7). To
observe the curing process more explicitly, only the amount of
curing water provided to the paste may be analyzed (Fig. 8).
Optionally, the spatial distribution of curing may be analyzed indi-
rectly, in view of its effects (e.g., on the hydration degree, capillary
pressure, relative humidity, or deformation of the paste). Naturally,
using the model (Gawin et al. 2006a), all these parameters are
coupled (e.g., the hydration is dependent upon RH, whereas RH
is a function of capillary pressure, which is evolving as a result

Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Fig. 7. Saturation degree distribution in the cement paste for the ana-
lyzed Case B at the time instant of maximum gradient of saturation
degree at the age of 150 h after initial setting; the saturation degree
in the SAP inclusions at this point in time is equal to approximately 6%
of the desaturation of pores in accordance with the sorption
isotherm). Finally, the capillary pressure determines the local
shrinkage of the cement paste.
The differences of saturation in the volume of the paste are an-
alyzed by simply comparing the evolution in two different points of
the paste, one of which is placed in the direct vicinity of the SAP,
and one of which is at the maximum possible distance from the
SAP surface, at the upper right-hand corner of the cylinder's section
Fig. 8. Saturation gain as a result of internal curing for various analyzed points; the close curves refer to points in the vicinity of SAP , whereas the
distant curves refer to points at a distance specified in Table 1; time from initial setting
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012 / 1013
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
(Fig. 1). The distances between the analyzed points, corresponding
to the maximum distances for water travel, are given in Table 1.
As long as the permeability is high enough, the saturation is
uniform in the whole volume of the cement paste (Fig. 6). It
can be clearly seen that the curves obtained in different points start
to diverge at a certain time instant, which is different for different
cases. After the permeability decreases to a certain level, the water
is not able to travel the analyzed distances with sufficient velocity.
Thus, points at a distance from the reservoirs will receive less water
than those in their direct vicinity, and thus, a saturation gradient will
form (Fig. 7). The time instant at which the difference in saturation
starts to visibly grow corresponds to a value of permeability (kk rw )
that is only slightly different for all of the analyzed w/c ratios,
approximately 1 · 10
19 –5 · 10
19 m2. In the w/c 0.25 cement
pastes (Cases A–C), this takes place approximately 24 h after
the initial setting at a degree of hydration α ¼ 0:37, whereas in
the w/c 0.30 cement paste (Case D), it occurs approximately
2.5 days after the initial setting at the degree of hydration
α ¼ 0:46. The maximum difference in saturation recorded for Case
A was equal to 1.6%. If the amount of entrained water is increased
(Case B), the maximum difference increases to 3.2% (Figs. 6 and
7), even though the distance between the analyzed points is slightly
smaller (Table 1). This is because in Case B, sufficient amounts of
water to produce such a difference are still provided at an age when
the permeability is low enough to inhibit the distribution of that
water (Fig. 5).
The important question that arises is whether the maximum
difference in saturation on the level of 3.2% recorded for
Case B could considerably decrease the effectiveness of the internal
curing. If the influence of internal curing on the evolution of
hydration is analyzed, it can be deduced that such a difference
in the saturation hardly affects the evolution of hydration, espe-
cially because the overall saturation levels are quite high. If the size
of the SAP is reduced to 800 μm (Case C), the maximum difference
in saturation reduces to 0.4%, which can be practically neglected.
Similarly, in the case of w/c 0.3 cement paste (Case D), the maxi-
mum difference in saturation is equal to approximately 0.5%.
The effectiveness of curing versus the increasing distance from
the reservoir may be also analyzed by comparing the accumulated
amount of additional water received by the point at a maximum
distance from the reservoir, to that in its vicinity (Fig. 8).
The amount of water is expressed in terms of saturation. Such
an approach allows for an accounting of the differences in hydra-
tion and porosity evolution at different points in the cured paste. If
 the extreme Case B is analyzed, it can be seen that points within a
distance of 2.2 mm receive in total at most 13% less required curing
water than those in the close vicinity of the SAP.
The rate of additional water provision can be obtained by differ-
entiating the curves from Fig. 8 with respect to time. In Case B, it
was observed that the water was provided to the most distant point
at rates approximately four times smaller than to the points close to
the SAP at the time instant of maximum difference. This happened
84 h after the initial setting, when the permeability was on the level
of approximately 4 · 10
23 m2.
In the case of SAP of a size of 800 μm (Case C), the accumu-
lated difference in required additional water was equal to only
1.5%. At the time instant of maximum difference, 72 h after the
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
initial setting, the permeability was approximately 5 · 10
23 m2,
and the points at the maximum distance were receiving per unit
of time approiximately 20% less additional water than those in
the direct vicinity of the SAP.
As long as the SAP release water, the difference in saturation
between the analyzed points is increasing. This happens because
of the coupled effect of the following phenomena: the decrease
of permeability and hence the inhibition of water transport and
the decrease of porosity, which causes the smaller amounts of water
provided to play an increasing role from the point of view of
saturation. This is a main reason why it is important that the
SAP release the major part of water at early age.
However, as seen in Figs. 6 and 8, after the maximum difference
in saturation is obtained and the amounts of water supplied by the
SAP are low enough, the difference decreases further. This happens
because the water accumulated in the regions closer to the reservoir
will tend to be distributed to the regions of lower saturation.
Discussion
As shown by the present simulations, at early ages of hydration,
the water transport in the cured paste is an almost instantaneous
process in comparison to the characteristic times of the hydration
process and of the corresponding self-desiccation process. By the
time of the depercolation of capillary porosity, which in the w/c
0.25 cement paste takes place at the age of 1–1.5 days, a major
part of the water absorbed in the SAP has already been released
and is uniformly distributed in the paste. These observations are
in very good agreement with the experimental work by Trtik et al.
(2010), who reported that during the first day of hydration, approx-
imately 90% of the water was released from the SAP and hardly
any gradients of saturation at growing distances from the SAP
reservoirs were visible.
The steep decrease of permeability of the paste occurring
as a result of the depercolation of capillary pores may, however,
strongly inhibit the water transport from the internal reservoirs.
It is shown that already some time before the depercolation of capil-
lary pores, at a permeability equal to approximately 1 · 10
19 m2,
the mobility of water for distances even shorter than 1 mm may be
inhibited (see Case C) (Fig. 6). Moreover, the phenomenon of
inhibited transport starts approximately at the same time for all
points within the cured volume. This includes points that are placed
closer to the reservoir than the maximum distances listed in Table 1.
When the effective permeability further drops to extremely low
levels of roughly 5 · 10
23 m2, considerable differences in water
distribution intensity occur within the volume of cured matrix
for the cases of very large SAP (2.4 mm for Cases A and B).
The pores of the paste, which are at a maximum distance of
2.2–2.5 mm from the reservoir, receive four to five times less water
per unit of time than those in the direct vicinity of the SAP.
1014 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
However, when the size of the SAP is reduced to 800 μm in
the swollen state (Case C), the maximum distance reduces to
roughly 740 μm from the reservoir surface. In that case, the pores
at the maximum distance receive at most approximately 20% less
additional water per time unit than those in the direct vicinity of the
SAP. Hence, in that case, the amounts of received water may be still
considered to be sufficiently high.
Igarashi et al. (2010) suggested that even if only part of the
volume is initially provided with a greater amount of curing water,
it will then act as an additional water reservoir for the regions at a
greater distance from the SAP. The additional water will be further
redistributed from the regions of higher saturation that drained
more water from SAP to those of lower saturation. The present
model allows this phenomenon to be explicitly taken into account,
and the results confirm the hypothesis of water redistribution in the
volume of cured paste.
As presented in the simulations, this mechanism of redistribu-
tion of curing water is efficient enough if it takes place on distances
of approximately 1 mm from the reservoir surface (Case C). More-
over, Case C, assumed to be the realistic case, refers, in fact, to
possibly the largest particles among the size distribution of the
SAP in a mixture. It is obvious that in practical applications, many
SAP particles smaller than 800 μm in the swollen state will also be
present in the mixture, which will further reduce the distance to be
covered by the internal curing water. Therefore, no considerable
problems concerning water distribution are likely to occur in
mixtures used for practical applications, even at very low
permeabilities.
The observation of continuous redistribution of water in the
cement paste leads to discussing another interesting and important
aspect: The concept of a strictly determined self-desiccation-
protected distance. It needs to be underlined that the determination
of the strict water flow distance is debatable because of the
mentioned redistribution phenomenon and because no exact
curing water front can be observed, neither experimentally nor
in the simulations presented in this paper. Instead, starting from
a certain time instant (or more precisely, from a certain value
of permeability), the amount of water provided by the internal
reservoirs will decrease gradually with a growing distance from
the surface of the reservoirs, but at the same time, a redistribution
of water previously received by the paste will take place.
The observations described in this paper support a recently
proposed description of internal curing at the macroscopic level,
where the influence of SAP on self-desiccation and autogenous
shrinkage is analyzed for materials treated as homogeneous
(Wyrzykowski et al. 2011). In that approach, the presence of inter-
nal curing is described by means of introducing into Eq. (1) a
volume-averaged additional source term for water, which is based
on the assumption of uniform distribution of curing water in the
volume of the cured material. As shown by the simulations, such
an assumption can be considered as justified.
Conclusions
The application of a mathematical model of concrete (Gawin et al.
2006a) for description of phenomena taking place during internal
curing has been presented. The model allows for the analysis of
water transport kinetics at the mesoscopic level, where a volume
composed of inclusions of SAP and surrounding hydrating cement
paste is observed. The model has been modified by implementing
the description of permeability evolution caused by hydration in
low w/c ratio cement pastes (Cui and Cahyadi 2001).
 In particular, the analysis explains some currently discussed
aspects (Lura et al. 2012) concerning the distribution of SAP-
entrained water in the hydrating cement paste. As shown by the
numerical simulations, at early ages of hydration, a major portion
of the water absorbed in the SAP becomes practically uniformly
distributed within the whole volume of the cured maturing material.
This observation is in agreement with recent experimental data ob-
tained by neutron tomography (Trtik et al. 2010, 2011). An inhib-
ition of the water transport, which leads to a nonuniform
distribution of curing water, becomes evident as a result of blocking
of capillary pores with hydration products when the permeability
drops down to approximately 1 · 10
19 m2. If water is still present
in the internal reservoirs, the further drop of permeability may lead
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
to a limitation of its accessibility. Thus, it is beneficial that the SAP
release the water before the depercolation of capillary pores takes
place. However, as the results of the simulations show, even after
the depercolation of capillary porosity, the mechanisms of redistrib-
ution of water in the hardening cement paste are efficient enough to
provide limited but considerable amounts of curing water to the
reservoir-paste proximity for the SAP sizes normally applied in
practice.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr. Pavel Trtik from Empa
for providing the image from neutron tomography used for
Fig. 1 and for the stimulating discussions.
References
Baroghel-Bouny, V., Mainguy, M., Lassabatere, T., and Coussy, O. (1999).
“Characterization and identification of equilibrium and transfer
moisture properties for ordinary and high-performance cementitious
materials.” Cem. Concr. Res., 29(8), 1225–1238.
Bear, J. (1988). Dynamics of fluids in porous media, Dover, Mineola, NY.
Bentz, D. P., and Garboczi, E. J. (1991). “Percolation of phases in a three-
dimensional cement paste microstructural model.” Cem. Concr. Res.,
21(2–3), 325–344.
Bentz, D. P., Garboczi, E. J., and Snyder, K. A. (1999). “A hard core/soft
shell microstructural model for studying percolation and transport in
three dimensional composite media.” NISTIR 6265, U.S. Dept. of
Commerce, Washington, DC.
Bentz, D. P., Koenders, E. A. B., Mönnig, S., Reinhardt, H.-W.,
van Breugel, K., and Ye, G. (2007). “Materials science-based models.”
Internal curing of concrete—State-of-the-art Report of RILEM Techni-
cal Committee 196-ICC, RILEM SARL, Bagneux, France, 29–43.
Bentz, D. P., and Snyder, K. A. (1999). “Protected paste volume in
concrete: Extension to internal curing using saturated lightweight fine
aggregate.” Cem. Concr. Res., 29(11), 1863–1867.
Cervera, M., Faria, R., Oliver, J., and Prato, T. (2002). “Numerical mod-
elling of concrete curing, regarding hydration and temperature phenom-
ena.” Comput. Struct., 80(18–19), 1511–1521.
Cui, L., and Cahyadi, J. H. (2001). “Permeability and pore structure of OPC
paste.” Cem. Concr. Res., 31(2), 277–282.
Feyel, F. (1999). “Multiscale FE2 elastoviscoplastic analysis of composite
structures.” Comput. Mater. Sci., 16(1–4), 344–354.
Friedemann, K., Stallmach, F., and Kärger, J. (2006). “NMR diffusion and
relaxation studies during cement hydration—A non-destructive
approach for clarification of the mechanism of internal post curing
of cementitious materials.” Cem. Concr. Res., 36(5), 817–826.
Garboczi, E. J. (1990). “Permeability, diffusivity, and microstructural
parameters: A critical review.” Cem. Concr. Res., 20(4), 591–601.
Garboczi, E. J., and Bentz, D. P. (1996). “Modelling of the microstructure and
transport properties of concrete.” Constr. Build. Mater., 10(5), 293–300.
Gawin, D., Pesavento, F., and Schrefler, B. A. (2006a). “Hygro-
thermo-chemo-mechanical modelling of concrete at early ages and
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012 / 1015
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
beyond. Part I: Hydration and hygro-thermal phenomena.” Int. J. Nu-
mer. Methods Eng., 67(3), 299–331.
Gawin, D., Pesavento, F., and Schrefler, B. A. (2006b). “Hygro-
thermo-chemo-mechanical modelling of concrete at early ages and
beyond. Part II: Shrinkage and creep of concrete.” Int. J. Numer.
Methods Eng., 67(3), 332–363.
Gawin, D., Pesavento, F., and Schrefler, B. A. (2007). “Modelling creep
and shrinkage of concrete by means of effective stresses.” Mater.
Struct., 40(6), 579–591.
Gawin, D., Wyrzykowski, M., and Pesavento, F. (2008). “Modeling hygro-
thermal performance and strains of cementitious building materials ma-
turing in variable conditions.” J. Build. Phys., 31(4), 301–318.
Halamickova, P., Detwiler, R. J., Bentz, D. P., and Garboczi, E. J. (1995).
“Water permeability and chloride ion diffusion in portland cement
mortars: Relationship to sand content and critical pore diameter.”
Cem. Concr. Res., 25(4), 790–802.
Hansen, T. C. (1986). “Physical structure of hardened cement paste.
A classical approach.” Mater. Struct., 19(6), 423–436.
Hassanizadeh, M., and Gray, W. G. (1979). “General conservation equa-
tions for multi-phase systems: 1. Averaging procedure.” Adv. Water
Resour., 2, 131–144.
Henkensiefken, R., Bentz, D., Nantung, T., and Weiss, J. (2009). “Volume
change and cracking in internally cured mixtures made with saturated
lightweight aggregate under sealed and unsealed conditions.”
Cem. Concr. Compos., 31(7), 427–437.
Henkensiefken, R., Nantung, T., and Weiss, J. (2011). “Saturated light-
weight aggregate for internal curing in low w/c mixtures: Monitoring
water movement using x-ray absorption.” Strain, 47(s1), e432–e441.
Igarashi, S.-I., Aragane, N., and Koike, Y. (2010). “Effects of spatial struc-
ture of superabsorbent polymer particles on autogenous shrinkage
behavior of cement paste.” Proc., Int. RILEM Conf. on Use of Super-
absorbent Polymers and Other New Additives in Concrete,
O. M. Jensen, M. T. Hasholt, and S. Laustsen, eds., RILEM SARL,
Bagneux, France, 137–147.
Jensen, O. M., and Hansen, P. F. (1996). “Autogenous deformation and
change of the relative humidity in silica fume-modified cement paste.”
ACI Mater. J., 93(6), 539–543.
Jensen, O. M., and Hansen, P. F. (2001). “Water-entrained cement-based
materials: I. Principles and theoretical background.” Cem. Concr.
Res., 31(4), 647–654.
Jensen, O. M., and Hansen, P. F. (2002). “Water-entrained cement-based
materials: II. Experimental observations.” Cem. Concr. Res., 32(6),
973–978.
Jensen, O. M., and Lura, P. (2006). “Techniques and materials for internal
water curing of concrete.” Mater. Struct., 39(9), 817–825.
Katz, A. J., and Thompson, A. H. (1986). “Quantitative prediction of per-
meability in porous rock.” Phys. Rev. B, 34(11), 8179–8181.
Lura, P., Bentz, D. P., Lange, D. A., Kovler, K., Bentur, A., and van Breugel,
K. (2006). “Measurement of water transport from saturated pumice
aggregates to hardening cement paste.” Mater. Struct., 39(9), 861–868.
Lura, P., Friedemann, K., Stallmach, F., Mönnig, S., Wyrzykowski, M., and
Esteves, L. P. (2012). “Kinetics of water migration in cement-based
systems containing superabsorbent polymers.” Chapter 4, Application
of super absorbent polymers (SAP) in concrete construction,
V. Mechtcherine, and H. W. Reinhardt, eds., RILEM State of the
Art Reports, Vol. 2, Springer, Dordrecht, New York, 21–37.
Lura, P., and Jensen, O. M. (2007). “Measuring techniques for autogenous
strain of cement paste.” Mater. Struct., 40(4), 431–440.
Lura, P., Jensen, O. M., and Igarashi, S.-I. (2007). “Experimental observation
of internal water curing of concrete.” Mater. Struct., 40(2), 211–220.
Lura, P., Jensen, O. M., and van Breugel, K. (2003). “Autogenous shrinkage
in high-performance cement paste: An evaluation of basic mecha-
nisms.” Cem. Concr. Res., 33(2), 223–232.
Maekawa, K., Chaube, R., and Kishi, T. (1999). “Modelling of concrete
performance.” E & FN Spon, London.
Mönnig, S. (2009). “Superabsorbing additions in concrete—Applications,
modeling and comparison of different internal water sources.” Ph.D.
thesis, Univ. of Stuttgart, Germany.
Nestle, N., Kühn, A., Friedemann, K., Horch, C., Stallmach, F., and
Herth, G. (2009). “Water balance and pore structure development in
 cementitious materials in internal curing with modified superabsorbent
polymer studied by NMR.” Microporous Mesoporous Mater.,
125(1–2), 51–57.
Nyame, B. K., and Illston, J. M. (1980). “Capillary pore structure and
permeability of hardened cement paste.” 7th Int. Congress on the
Chemistry of Cement Vol. 3, 37(133), 181–185.
Powers, T. C. (1958). “Structure and physical properties of hardened
portland cement paste.” J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 41(1), 1–6.
Trtik, P., et al. (2010). “Neutron tomography investigation of water release
from superabsorbent polymers in cement paste.” Int. Conf. on Material
Science and 64th RILEM Annual Week, Aachen, Germany.
Trtik, P., et al. (2011). “Release of internal curing water from lightweight
aggregates in cement paste investigated by neutron and X-ray
tomography.” Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. Sect. A, 651(1),
Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Mohammed Junaid Siddiqui on 09/18/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
244–249.
Ulm, F.-J., and Coussy, O. (1996). “Strength growth as chemo-plastic hard-
ening in early age concrete.” J. Eng. Mech., 122(12), 1123–1132.
Vichit-Vadakan, W., and Scherer, G. W. (2003). “Measuring permeability
1016 / JOURNAL OF MATERIALS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING © ASCE / AUGUST 2012
J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 2012.24:1006-1016.
and stress relaxation of young cement paste by beam bending.”
Cem. Concr. Res., 33(12), 1925–1932.
Wyrzykowski, M., Lura, P., Pesavento, F., and Gawin, D. (2011). “Model-
ing of internal curing in maturing mortar.” Cem. Concr. Res., 41(12),
1349–1356.
Ye, G. (2004). “Experimental study and numerical simulation of the devel-
opment of the microstructure and permeability of cementitious materi-
als.” Ph.D. thesis, Delft Univ. of Technology, Netherlands.
Ye, G. (2005). “Percolation of capillary pores in hardening cement pastes.”
Cem. Concr. Res., 35(1), 167–176.
Ye, G., Lura, P., and van Breugel, K. (2006). “Modelling of water per-
meability in cementitious materials.” Mater. Struct., 39(9), 877–885.
Zhutovsky, S., Kovler, K., and Bentur, A. (2004). “Assessment of distance
of water migration in internal curing of high-strength concrete.” ACI
SP-220, Autogenous deformation of concrete, O. M. Jensen, D. P.
Bentz, and P. Lura, eds., ACI, Farmington Hills, MI, 181–200.
Zienkiewicz, O. C., and Taylor, R. L. (2000). The finite element method,
Vol. 1: The basis, Buttterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.