Acoustic Emission Experiments of Rock Failure Under Load Simulating the Hypocenter Condition

A series of acoustic emission (AE) experiments of rock failure have been conducted under cyclic load in tri-axial stress tests. To simulate the hypocenter condition the specimens are loaded by the combined action of a constant stress, intended to simulate the tectonic loading, and a small sinusoidal disturbance stress, analogous to the Earth tide induced by the Sun and the Moon. Each acoustic emission signal can indicate the occurrence time, location and relative magnitude of the damage (micro-crack) in the specimen. The experimental results verified some precursors such as LURR (Load/Unload Response Ratio) and AER (Accelerating Energy Release) before macro-fracture of the samples. A new parameter, the correlation between the AE and the load, has been proposed to describe the loading history. On the eve of some strong earthquakes the correlation between the Benioff strain and the Coulomb failure stress (CFS) decreases, similar to the variation of LURR prior to strong earthquakes.