A STUDY ON ACOUSTIC-EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF FLY-ASH CEMENT MORTAR UNDER COMPRESSION

Abstract

Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring of the integrity of material has been widely regarded as a potentially new nondestructive testing method. This study is devoted to the investigation of AE characteristics of fly ash cement mortar (FACM) under uniaxial compression. The test results of 72 specimens were reported. The major experimental parameters include the AE signals, the amount of cement replaced by fly ash, compressive strength, strain and age of the FACM. The test results showed that the characteristics of the detected AE signals during the compression process contain potentially useful information for judging the stability of the specimens under compression. Good correlation between the AE signals and the major parameters of FACM was observed. Also, a study on the AE Kaiser effect showed that Kaiser effect existed in FACM up to 80% of its ultimate strength.