Studying the dynamic damage failure of concrete based on acoustic emission

Understanding the properties of concrete under load is essential for assessing the stability and serviceability of buildings. In this work, the uniaxial compression test of concrete was carried out based on acoustic emission (AE) in order to monitor the dynamic damage of concrete in real time and study the failure mechanism. The change of AE energy and ringing counts over rising load was recorded, and the 3D evolution of AE locations during the dynamic damage failure of concrete was also determined. The damage variables during the loading process were calculated based on AE activity. The results showed that the AE activity existed throughout the entire failure process and was the most prominent in the yielding phase. The damage of concrete could be predicted qualitatively by the sharp increase in both the accumulated AE energy and the ringing counts. The test on the 3D distribution of AE events illustrated the generation, growth, and connection of microcracks. The correlation between AE parameters and damage variables was discussed based on the statistical damage constitutive model and the Weibull random distribution.