Acoustic Emission Characteristics of Compressive Deformation and Failure of Siltstone under Different Water Contents

Abstract

The uniaxial compression and acoustic emission (AE) monitoring of siltstone specimens in the Gongchangling open-pit iron mine in Liaoning Province was conducted by evaluating the effects of three water saturation levels: dry, natural, and water-saturated. The siltstone AE characteristics were analyzed according to water content; the relationship between the AE characteristics and the growth and expansion of siltstone cracks was subsequently discussed. Research results indicated the following: siltstone specimens had distinctly different mechanical properties and AE characteristics according to water content; as the water content increased the compressive strength and elasticity modulus of specimens decreased. In the compacting phase of specimens under compression, the AE count rate of the water-saturated specimen was relatively small and the events were relatively stable. In the linear-elastic deformation phase, the AE count rate of the dry specimen increased sharply, reaching approximately 400 times/s. In the plastic yield deformation phase, the peak value of the AE count rate of the dry specimen ranged between 955 and 1,068 times/s, whereas that of the water-saturated specimen only attained a range of 635 to 782 times/s. In the failure phase, the time to reach the peak stress value of the dry specimen was increased as compared to that of the AE count rate.