Acoustic emission characteristics of Pykrete under uniaxial compression

Pykrete is a special building material suitable for cold regions. It has attracted extensive attention in recent years owing to its high strength and toughness. However, for structures constructed using Pykrete, appropriate damage detection and evaluation methods have rarely been investigated. As with most materials, the destruction of the Pykrete structure releases energy as stress waves and produces acoustic emission (AE) signals, which help understand the damage process and evaluate the degree of damage to the Pykrete. In this study, the AE technique was employed to monitor and evaluate the damage to different types of Pykretes and matrix subjected to uniaxial compression. Combined with the load-time curve, the conventional parameters of AE signals obtained from Pykretes and matrix were analyzed first. Furthermore, the failure modes of Pykretes and the matrix were investigated via the relationship between the ratio of the rise time to the waveform amplitude and the average frequency. The b-value was also calculated using the least-squares method to evaluate the failure process of Pykretes and matrix. The results show that the AE technique can qualitatively assess the damage process of Pykretes and has the potential to detect damage to actual Pykrete structures in situ.