Effects of Water-to-Cement Ratio on Pore Structure Evolution and Strength Development of Cement Slurry Based on HYMOSTRUC3D and Micro-CT  
[PERSON]  
1 Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (G.J. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.F. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.Q. );  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (L.L.) [PERSON]  
1 Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (G.J. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.F. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.Q. );  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (L.L.) [PERSON]  
1 Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (G.J. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.F. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.Q. );  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (L.L.) [PERSON]  
1 Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (G.J. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.F. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.Q. );  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (L.L.) [PERSON]  
1 Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (G.J. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.F. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.Q. );  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (L.L.) [PERSON]  
3 School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (L.)  
[PERSON]  
1 Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.Z. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (G.J. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.F. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (B.Q. );  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (L.L.) [PERSON]  
4 Universidade Catadena, Campus de Investigaciones,  
the _w/c_ ratios greatly affect the pore structure and mechanical properties of cement slurry, in which case the porosity and mechanical properties are the main parameters to characterize the durability and service life of the cement sheath. Over the past decades, many researchers [10; 11; 12; 13] investigated the influence of the _w/c_ ratio and curing age on the pore structure evolution and mechanical properties of cementitious materials. [PERSON] [10] illustrated that the influence of _w/c_ and cement content on the properties of polymer-modified mortars has a similar influence as unmodified mortars. The compressive strength decreased with increasing _w/c_ ratio and the cement content was of minor influence, while shrinkage and water absorption increased with the water-cement ratio and cement content. [PERSON] et al. [12] demonstrated that the abrasion resistance of concrete is improved by 42% and the porosity of concrete is decreased to 13.1% by reducing the _w/c_ ratio from 0.46 to 0.30 in nano-silica concrete specimens. [PERSON] et al. [13] used ice particles instead of liquid water as mixing water to prepare cement pastes and found that the total porosity is the main factor in determining the compressive strength of hardened cement paste with super low _w/c_ ratios. Furthermore, based on different experimentally measured results [14; 15; 16; 17; 18], different types of mathematical prediction models and regression models have focused on the relationship between porosity and strength. [PERSON] et al. [19] derived an empirical model to calculate the uniaxial compressive strength of cement stone and studied the relationship between ultrasonic pulse transit time, density, _w/c_ ratio, water-solids ratio, and strength. [PERSON] et al. [20] discussed the pore volume fractal dimension of low-density microsphere cement and its relationship with pore structure and mechanical properties. [PERSON] et al. [13] established the relationship between compressive strength and total porosity of hardened cement paste with super low _w/c_ ratios according to the Balshin function, Ryshkewitch function, and Schiller function. The relationship between the strength of hardened cement paste and the _w/c_ ratio is well-studied. However, there are few reports on how the compressive strength of cement slurry is produced and what its influencing factors are.