Transport in Porous Media, Vol.45, No.2, 215-239, 2001
Identification of the physical parameters used in the thermo-hygro-mechanical model (application to the case of cement mortar)
This paper describes different methods used to identify a large number of physical parameters of the thermo-hygro-mechanical coupling model. This model is developed on the basis of mechanics of porous media and deals with the prediction of response of a structure submitted to thermal, hygrometric and mechanical loading. The aim of this work is mainly to propose some experimental methods for the determination of physical parameters used previously in the model such as hygrometric parameters (liquid Biot's coefficient b(l), vapour and liquid permeability pi (v), pi (1) and tangent capillary modulus N-11). Thermal parameters such as thermal conductivity (lambda), specific heat (C) and the thermo-hydrous expansion coefficient (alpha (p)(i)) have been identified using some works published previously. The different physical parameters were identified in the case of cement mortar without taking into account the influence of hysteresis.