Acoustic emission in fiber reinforced concrete

This investigation is aimed at diagnostic studies on the behavior at different interfaces in fiber reinforced concrete: between hardened cement paste and sand, between mortar and coarse aggregate and between concrete and fibers. Other types of internal failure include aggregate crushing, fiber rupture, and so on. Only cylindrical specimens, with varying volume percentage and aspect ratio of fibers, have been tested in compression. For quite some time additives like latexes, plasticizers, fibers and silica fume are incorporated in concrete and mortar to improve one quality or the other of concrete, but one single common objective is delaying or arresting interface cracks. This investigation attempts to relate external behavior to internal signals of distress through acoustic emission. This helps to identify critical internal distress vis-a-vis external level of stress. Further, spectral analysis of acoustic signals has been attempted in frequency domain in order to establish which types of interface failure are predominant at different stages of stress. Such understanding could enable material scientists to decide on the parameters of additives with greater confidence when developing composites with desired external response. Of interest are instrumentation and on-line data processing in order to record (a) cumulative acoustic activity and (b) spectral analysis in frequency domain at different stages of progressive loading.