An experimental study on fracture mechanical behavior of rock-like materials containing two unparallel fissures under uniaxial compression

Strength and deformability characteristics of rock with pre-existing fissures are governed by cracking behavior. To further research the effects of pre-existing fissures on the mechanical properties and crack coalescence process, a series of uniaxial compression tests were carried out for rock-like material with two unparallel fissures.In the present study, cement, quartz sand, and water were used to fabricate a kind of brittle rock-like material cylindrical model specimen. The mechanical properties of rock-like material specimen used in this research were all in good agreement with the brittle rock materials. Two unparallel fissures(a horizontal fissure and an inclined fissure) were created by inserting steel during molding the model specimen.Then all the pre-fissured rock-like specimens were tested under uniaxial compression by a rock mechanics servocontrolled testing system. The peak strength and Young's modulus of pre-fissured specimen all first decreased and then increased when the fissure angle increased from 0?to 75?.In order to investigate the crack initiation, propagation and coalescence process, photographic monitoring was adopted to capture images during the entire deformation process.Moreover, acoustic emission(AE) monitoring technique was also used to obtain the AE evolution characteristic of prefissured specimen. The relationship between axial stress, AE events, and the crack coalescence process was set up: when a new crack was initiated or a crack coalescence occurred, thecorresponding axial stress dropped in the axial stress–time curve and a big AE event could be observed simultaneously.Finally, the mechanism of crack propagation under microscopic observation was discussed. These experimental results are expected to increase the understanding of the strength failure behavior and the cracking mechanism of rock containing unparallel fissures.     

Fracture Mechanics of Corrosion Cracking in Concrete by Acoustic Emission

Nucleation of microcracks can be detected and analyzed by acoustic emission (AE), by which crack kinematics of locations, types and rientations are quantitatively estimated. The procedure was applied to clarify mechanisms of corrosion cracking. Based on fracture mechanics, numerical analysis was conducted by the boundary element method (BEM). Relations between the stress intensity factors and crack types were investigated by BEM solutions. In experiments, four types of crack patterns were nucleated by employing expansive agent. Following the surface crack, the diagonal crack and/or the horizontal crack propagated. The internal crack extended after the surface crack was terminated. Depending on the crack types, contributions of mode-I and mode-II were varied. According to AE results, four crack patterns observed differently consisted of tensile, mixed-mode and shear cracks. It is demonstrated that mechanisms of corrosion cracking in concrete are dominantly of mode-I failure along with a minor contribution of mixed-mode and mode-II.     

Nonlinear Kalman Filtering for acoustic emission source localization in anisotropic panels

Nonlinear Kalman Filtering is an established field in applied probability and control systems, which plays an important role in many practical applications from target tracking to weather and climate prediction. However, its application for acoustic emission (AE) source localization has been very limited. In this paper, two well-known nonlinear Kalman Filtering algorithms are presented to estimate the location of AE sources in anisotropic panels: the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF) and Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF). These algorithms are applied to two cases: velocity profile known (CASE I) and velocity profile unknown (CASE II). The algorithms are compared with a more traditional nonlinear least squares method. Experimental tests are carried out on a carbon-fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composite panel instrumented with a sparse array of piezoelectric transducers to validate the proposed approaches. AE sources are simulated using an instrumented miniature impulse hammer. In order to evaluate the performance of the algorithms, two metrics are used: (1) accuracy of the AE source localization and (2) computational cost. Furthermore, it is shown that both EKF and UKF can provide a confidence interval of the estimated AE source location and can account for uncertainty in time of flight measurements.     

声发射技术在全尺寸飞机疲劳试验中的应用

过去九年,,在对两类三代机的全尺寸疲劳试验中实施了全程声发射监测。采用了以声发射为中心的裂纹综合监、检测方法,对一些关键构件的疲劳裂纹实施早期预报,并用其它无损检测方法加以验证,为试验的顺利进行奠定了重要基础,为确定和延长这两类飞机的机群寿命发挥了重要作用。在对第一类三代机的试验中,发展了过去所用的声发射信号处理技术,在大量获取试验中的声发射信号时,有意识地将信号分成一系列有序的信号子集,分别反映一定的飞机受力(载荷)状态,在此基础上再采用空间滤波等技术获得感兴趣结构位置处的信号子集。对子集再采取基于统计分析原理的趋势分析和相关分析技术,获取监测位置的状态,以及试验机的“健康状态”。这一方法在另一类三代机的试验中再次发挥作用,显示了生命力。最终结果是两类三代机的机群寿命均有50%以上的提高,说明声发射技术具有广阔的应用前景。