Analysis of Axial Compression Damage and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete

doi:10.16552/j.cnki.issn1001-1625.2026.0290

Abstract

Abstract:

In order to explore the influence of polypropylene imitation steel fiber and steel fiber hybrid fiber on the mechanical properties of concrete， plain concrete （NC）， polypropylene imitation steel fiber concrete （PFRC-0.5， PFRC-1） and hybrid fiber concrete （PSRC-1） were designed， and the mechanical properties and damage evolution law of concrete under axial compression were explored by uniaxial compression mechanical test combined with acoustic emission monitoring technology. The results show that the compressive strength of hybrid fiber concrete （PSRC-1） is 23.11% higher than that of plain concrete， and the toughness is significantly enhanced. The acoustic emission ring-down count has a good correlation with the stress-strain curve， which can effectively reflect the various stages of axial compression process of concrete， and can provide an acoustic emission characteristic reference for the damage monitoring and failure mechanism of fiber reinforced concrete. The global acoustic emission b-value of PSRC-1 specimen is the highest， which is 0.42 higher than that of plain concrete， indicating that the hybrid fiber has good energy dissipation ability. The incorporation of fiber promotes the failure mode to shear failure， and the acoustic emission signal is concentrated in the low frequency band （50 kHz to 100 kHz）.

Key words: fiber-reinforced concrete, polypropylene imitation steel fiber, steel fiber, acoustic emission, acoustic emission b-value, cluster analysis

CLC Number:

TU528.58

DIAO Jialong, WANG Jiacheng, WANG Qiang, WANG Nan, YIN Guoan, ZHANG Wei. Analysis of Axial Compression Damage and Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Fiber-Reinforced Concrete[J]. BULLETIN OF THE CHINESE CERAMIC SOCIETY, 2026, 45(9): 3109-3116.

Figures/Tables 10

Table 1 Mechanical properties and dimension of fiber

Type	Diameter d/ mm	Length L/ mm	Aspect ratio L/d	Tensile strength/MPa
Steel fiber	0.75	35	46	1 100
Polypropylene imitation steel fiber	0.65	40	61	600

Table 2 Mix proportion of concrete

Sample No.	Steel fiber content/%	Polypropylene imitation fiber content/%	Mix proportion/（kg·m^-3）
Sample No.	Steel fiber content/%	Polypropylene imitation fiber content/%	Cement	Fly ash	Sand	Crushed stone	Water reducer	Water
NC	0	0	340	80	900	910	9.4	178
PFRC-0.5	0	0.5	340	80	900	910	9.8	178
PFRC-1	0	1.0	340	80	900	910	10.6	178
PSRC-1	0.5	0.5	340	80	900	910	10.0	178

Fig.1 Experimental setup and sensor positioning diagram

Fig.2 Stress-strain curves of concrete

Fig.3 Schematic diagram of compressive toughness of concrete

Table 3 Area under stress-strain curve in concrete

Sample No.	$Ω$	$Ω 0.85$	$Ω 0.50$	$Ω 0.20$
NC	0.107 95	0.124 23	0.138 45	0.157 08
PFRC-0.5	0.145 17	0.180 12	0.217 32	0.224 71
PFRC-1	0.172 59	0.198 79	0.210 82	0.252 41
PSRC-1	0.210 33	0.227 45	0.227 94	0.291 35

Table 3 Area under stress-strain curve in concrete

Sample No.	$Ω$	$Ω 0.85$	$Ω 0.50$	$Ω 0.20$
NC	0.107 95	0.124 23	0.138 45	0.157 08
PFRC-0.5	0.145 17	0.180 12	0.217 32	0.224 71
PFRC-1	0.172 59	0.198 79	0.210 82	0.252 41
PSRC-1	0.210 33	0.227 45	0.227 94	0.291 35

Fig.4 Ring-down count in acoustic emission

Fig.5 Distribution characteristics of acoustic emission amplitude-frequency

Table 4 Fitting parameters of acoustic emission b-value

Sample No.	a	b	R²
NC	21.06	3.34	0.997 42
PFRC-0.5	20.19	3.49	0.995 34
PFRC-1	19.91	3.51	0.996 45
PSRC-1	19.89	3.76	0.992 13

Fig.6 Distribution characteristic of amplitude-peak frequency

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