LAUSR

Abstract This work focuses on the study of macroscopic mechanical behavior of cement paste in relation with micro-structural degradation due to chemical leaching. According to experimental evidences, the degradation of cement paste is mainly characterized by a significant increase of porosity due to the dissolution of Portlandite (CH) and the decalcification of calcium silicate hydrates (C–S–H). We shall first establish the explicit relations between macroscopic elastic properties and plastic yield stresses and porosity of cement paste by using analytical homogenization methods. With these relations, the degradation of elastic and plastic properties of cement paste by chemical leaching can be systematically determined. Combining with a specific plastic hardening law, the complete micro-macro constitutive model is formulated to describe the mechanical behavior of cement paste under general loading conditions. The efficiency of the proposed model is assessed through the comparison between numerical results and experimental data in uniaxial and triaxial compression tests performed on both sound and leached samples.