Recovery of microcrack parameters in mortar using quantitative acoustic emission

A three-dimensional quantitative acoustic emission (AE) analysis of microcracking in unreinforced mortar beams was conducted. In order to facilitate the analysis of the large amounts of data generated by an AE test, a simplified method for the inversion of AE signals was developed. By applying the theoretical Green's function for an infinite space, the multichannel deconvolution normally required of AE data inversion reduces to a nonlinear curve-fitting problem. Using this procedure, microcracking in a mortar specimen was evaluated using a seismic moment tensor representation. Source-time functions for the microcracks were also recovered. The locations of the AE events were calculated, and damage localization was observed. The moment tensor analysis showed the dominant mode of microfracture to be mode II, with a limited number classified as mixed mode. A microstructural mechanism for this behavior is presented.