An Experimental Study of Acoustic Emission Monitoring on Cement-based Material under Compressive and Tensile Indirect Tests

Acoustic emission is a high-frequency elastic signal that is generated and emitted by a material when it is loaded. Transient elastic waves are created by the release of energy in the sources in the material. Acoustic emission test is one of the methods of non-destructive tests. These waves are emitted in the material and can be received by acoustic emission sensors. Acoustic emission method can monitor the solids’ fracturing process during a period of time, and this method is extensively used in studying the fracturing process and inspections. In the present study, tensile splitting and uniaxial compressive tests were done on concrete sample accompanied by AE (acoustic emission) monitoring. The chart of AE parameters were analyzed; the parameters include energy, energy cumulative values as well as amplitude values, duration, average frequency, rise angle, b-value, and improved b-value relative to the stress applied to the specimens during the loading time. Based on the results, most of the crack growth signals in tensile splitting tests were tensile crack signals, and there are fewer shear crack signals; however, in uniaxial compressive tests, there were more shear cracks. Moreover, the b(Ib)-values can be used for predicting damages in large scales during the fracturing process in specimens, based on AE parameters.