European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tece20

Investigations on fracture related properties of

strain hardened concrete using digital image
correlation and acoustic emission techniques

B. S. Sindu, A. Thirumalaiselvi & Saptarshi Sasmal

To cite this article: B. S. Sindu, A. Thirumalaiselvi & Saptarshi Sasmal (2021): Investigations
on fracture related properties of strain hardened concrete using digital image correlation and
acoustic emission techniques, European Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering, DOI:
10.1080/19648189.2021.1962411

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/19648189.2021.1962411

Published online: 17 Aug 2021.

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EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING
https://doi.org/10.1080/19648189.2021.1962411

Investigations on fracture related properties of strain hardened

concrete using digital image correlation and acoustic
emission techniques
B. S. Sindu , A. Thirumalaiselvi and Saptarshi Sasmal
Special and Multifunctional Structures Laboratory, CSIR-Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Different types of fiber reinforced concrete are being developed with the Received 30 December 2020
aim to improve the desired mechanical properties like tensile strength, Accepted 23 July 2021
strain carrying capacity and energy absorption capacity. Fracture character-
KEYWORDS
istics of fiber reinforced concrete are quite different from conventional con-
Digital image correlation;
crete and much more complicated when chemically active fibers, capable acoustic emission; crack
to the unique strain hardening properties due to both mechanical and monitoring; fracture process
chemical bond in heterogeneous medium, are incorporated. zone; fiber
Characterization of such material, specifically fracture behaviour, is very reinforced concrete
important for better understanding of—and efficient design for—the
material. In the present study, detailed investigations are carried out using
the complementary image- and acoustic wave-based techniques to obtain
the complete information on the fracture characteristics of the strain hard-
ened concrete, as the conventional strain/displacement sensors may not
completely capture the behavior due to heterogeneity and brittleness.
Thorough analysis of acoustic parameters including clustering and image
processing at different stages of damage are carried out. It is found that
the major fracture characteristics like determining the location of crack for-
mation, monitoring the crack propagation, fracture energy and most
importantly, fracture process zone of fiber reinforced concrete, can be eval-
uated by the proposed technique as discussed and demonstrated in
this paper.

1. Introduction
Concrete is a highly brittle material with extremely low tensile strength. Fracture process in concrete is
very different from ductile materials. Typically, there is a zone called ‘fracture process zone (FPZ)’ that dic-
tates the fracture properties of the material. It represents a transition zone, consisting of many micro-
cracks, between intact material and a state of material with macro-crack (Bhowmik & Ray, 2019). Due to
the incorporation of fibers into concrete for improving the tensile properties, fracture characteristics of
concrete improve tremendously. Fibers present in concrete help in bridging the cracks and delay the
crack propagation (Sindu & Sasmal, 2020; Thirumalaiselvi et al., 2020). Therefore, incorporation of fibers
significantly alters the FPZ in concrete. Hence, it is necessary to qualitatively and quantitatively character-
ize the FPZ of fiber incorporated concrete for better understanding on the influence of fibers and for effi-
ciently designing the material. However, the use of strain gauges or conventional sensor techniques may
not be sufficient to effectively capture the crack initiation and to characterize the fracture behaviour

CONTACT B. S. Sindu sindu@serc.res.in, sindu.lsn@gmail.com Special and Multifunctional Structures Laboratory, CSIR-
Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai, Tamil Nadu 600113, India
ß 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

(including length of FPZ) of concrete, as the phenomenon occurs at micro-scale inside a highly heteroge-
neous material like concrete. Therefore, it becomes important to develop an appropriate technique to
determine the tensile/fracture properties of these new types of concrete with fibers/supplementary
cementitious materials (SCMs).
In this regard, many techniques like X-ray micro Computed Tomography (Skarz_ yn ski & Tejchman,
2016), laser holography (Shimada & Kotyaev, 2009), electronic speckle pattern interferometry (Chen et al.,
2017), acoustic emission (AE) (Gholizadeh et al., 2015; Otsuka & Date, 2000; Wiedmann et al., 2017),
digital imaging techniques (Alam et al., 2012; Das et al., 2015; Sindu & Sasmal, 2019; Skar_zyn ski &
Tejchman, 2013), etc., have been adopted in the past to characterize the fracture behaviour of concrete.
Among all the available and attempted techniques, digital image correlation (DIC) and AE technique are
reported to be the most promising techniques for characterizing the fracture properties of concrete,
more particularly the FPZ and crack characteristics. Acoustic parameters (cumulative AE energy and RA
value) were monitored for analyzing fiber bridging mechanisms of self-compacting steel fiber reinforced
concrete subjected to high temperature (Xargay et al., 2018). Mihashi and Nomura (1996) determined
through the AE studies that the length of FPZ is independent of aggregate size whereas the width of
FPZ is about 2.8 times the maximum aggregate size. The average width of FPZ determined from the AE
events in small, medium and large concrete beams of depth of 75 mm, 150 mm and 300 mm (with max-
imum aggregate size of 12.5 mm) was found to be about 38 mm, 71 mm and 167 mm. The ratio of length
of FPZ to the depth of the concrete beam was found to be constant (¼0.78) (Keerthana & Kishen, 2020).
Similar investigations carried out using AE technique demonstrated that the width of FPZ is 2.75 times
the maximum aggregate size (Hadjab et al., 2004). Skar_zyn ski et al. (2013) proposed a novel method to
determine the width of FPZ by fitting the surface displacements obtained from DIC to the error function
and surface strains to the normal distribution and the same can be used for standardization of experi-
mental procedure. It was demonstrated that the width of the FPZ increased with the increase in max-
imum aggregate size and decreased with decreasing aggregate volume (Skar_zyn ski & Tejchman, 2013). Li
et al. (2020) determined the size of FPZ in different types of concrete by employing the DIC technique
and found that the length of FPZ ranges between 20 to 42 mm and the width of FPZ is between 16
to 19 mm.
Though many efforts have been made by researchers to characterize the fracture behaviour of con-
crete by individually using these techniques, they were restricted due to their limitations. For example,
DIC is capable of providing only the surface information of the specimen and fails to capture any internal
phenomenon that is taking place. This may undermine the efficacy of this technique for monitoring and
assessing the fracture related issues in concrete. On the other hand, AE technique can uniquely capture
the crack evolution in the material, but it fails to distinguish the type of crack (micro-crack or macro-
crack) that is formed. Additionally, the acoustic events can only reflect the initiation or propagation of
cracks. It is worth-noting that, AE technique can be used during active state (crack initiation and propa-
gation) whereas DIC can provide the information during inactive damage state also.
To complement the capabilities of different techniques, limited attempts have been made in the past.
In this line, experimental studies were carried out with complementary X-ray and AE techniques to inves-
tigate the fracture behavior of concrete (Otsuka & Date, 2000). AE and DIC techniques were used simul-
taneously to identify the size of FPZ (Alam et al., 2014) and cracking mechanisms of concrete (Rouchier
et al., 2013; Thirumalaiselvi et al., 2020). Omondi et al. (2016) also applied AE and DIC to characterize the
mechanical and damage behaviour of prestressed concrete sleepers. Li et al. (2020) from their combined
DIC and AE studies observed that the FPZ initiated before the peak load and grew rapidly after the peak
load. It was also observed that the coarse aggregates play an important role in the development of FPZ
causing bifurcation and tortuous path, thereby improving the fracture properties. Similar observations
were made by Alam et al. (2012) wherein the FPZ was developed at 80% of pre-peak load and was stabi-
lized after the peak load. The maximum width of FPZ was found to be about 70–80 mm in concrete with
the maximum aggregate size of 20 mm.
From the reported studies, it has been observed that the use of complementary techniques has tre-
mendous potential to effectively characterize the fracture properties of concrete. In view of this, in this
study, an attempt has been made to set a procedure for detailed characterization of the fracture behav-
iour of strain hardened concrete (expected to have widely distributed micro-cracks) by correlating infor-
mation obtained from both non-contact (DIC)- and contact (AE)-based techniques. The data obtained
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 3

Table 1. Properties of PVA fibers used in this study.

Tensile Young’s
Length Diameter Density strength modulus
(mm) (mm) (kg/m3) (MPa) (GPa)
30 0.66 1300 1500 41.7

from both DIC and AE studies are investigated hand-in-hand to investigate the facture characteristics,
with emphasis on precisely quantifying the size of FPZ, in concrete like material.
Due to the recent interests in incorporating chemical fibers like Poly Vinyl Alcohol (PVA) fiber into con-
crete (Georgiou & Pantazopoulou, 2019; Thirumalaiselvi et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2019) which are capable
of imparting unique properties, such as strain hardening and high strain capacity through the mechanical
and chemical bonds with the surrounding cementitious matrix, the present study is extended towards
characterizing the fracture behaviour of PVA fibers incorporated concrete. When PVA fiber tries to come
out from the matrix, stable debonding takes place at the interface which is governed by chemical bond.
When the chemical bond is completely broken, there is a sudden reduction in the load carrying capacity
and the fiber tries to slip out of the matrix which is governed by the frictional bond. Fiber can then slide
by ways such as slip softening, constant friction or slip hardening depending upon the frictional bond
(denoted by slip coefficient, b) between the fiber and the matrix. The pseudo-strain hardening behaviour
exhibited by concrete reinforced with PVA fibers is due to the slip-hardening effect (b > 0) offered by it.
Due to these unique and complex characteristics offered by PVA fibers to the concrete, it becomes
utmost important to investigate and evaluate the fracture related properties of PVA fibers incorporated
strain hardened concrete. Characterizing the micro-mechanical features like fracture process zone and
crack characteristics will help in better understanding the influence of fibers for designing the materials
with improved properties. In view of this, in the present study, investigations are carried out to under-
stand the influence of fibers (of different dosages) on the fracture characteristics of concrete. At first,
crack development in concrete specimens under incremental loading is investigated using DIC which can
capture the surface information. Then, qualitative AE parameters are validated with the quantitative
measurements (crack length) determined from DIC. Finally, the fracture characteristics of plain and PVA
fiber incorporated concrete are comparatively evaluated using information from both surface information
(through DIC) and inside microstructural mechanism (i.e. through AE). The size independent fracture
energy of plain and PVA fiber incorporated concrete is determined from specimens with different notch
depths. The surface strain distribution of the specimens is analysed in detail to understand the crack initi-
ation, crack branching and multiple cracking phenomenon of PVA concrete. By analyzing the AE event
data and DIC strain profile, different stages of crack development in PVA concrete, namely, micro-crack
formation/crack initiation, macro-crack development/crack propagation, fiber sliding/pull out, etc. are
characterized. Close correlation between crack length from DIC data and cumulative AE events is also
brought out. The size (length and width) of the major fracture parameter of concrete, FPZ is also quanti-
tatively determined by using AE and DIC information. The findings of this study will provide a compre-
hensive experimental technique for characterizing different types of engineered quasi-brittle materials
using the complementary contact and noncontact techniques and also emphasize on the fracture related
properties of strain hardened concrete.

2. Materials and methods

The basic mix ingredients are: Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC—grade 53), fine aggregate (FA), coarse
aggregate (CA) (of 10 mm and 20 mm size), chemical PVA fibers (of length 30 mm) and water. Cement:
fine aggregates: coarse aggregates were used in the ratio of 1: 1.25: 2.5 with the water/cement ratio of
0.4. The crushed stone aggregates of sizes 10 mm and down (50%) and 20 mm and down (50%) were
used to develop the concrete specimens. The properties of PVA fibers (procured from M/s Kuraray Co.,
Ltd.) used in this study are presented in Table 1. They belong to unique class of fibers which can offer
chemical bonds, besides the usual mechanical bond between fiber and matrix.
At first, cement, FA and CA were mixed thoroughly till uniform mix was obtained. To this mix, water
corresponding to 0.4 w/c ratio was added and mixed for 5 minutes. PVA fibers of appropriate dosage was
then added and mixed thoroughly for another 5 minutes. The mix was then poured into prisms of
4 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 1. (a) Specimen preparation, (b) test set up and (c) AE sensors.

Table 2. Mix proportions used in this study.

Nomenclature OPC FA CA PVA fibers (vol. %) w/c ratio
PC 1 1.25 2.5 _ 0.4
1PVA 1 1.25 2.5 1 0.4
2PVA 1 1.25 2.5 2 0.4

dimension 100  100  500 mm. The prisms were demoulded after 24 hours and subjected to curing in
water for 28 days (Figure 1). The nomenclature of different mixes used in this study and their mix propor-
tions are presented in Table 2.
The cured concrete specimens were surface dried after removing from water. A notch of 3 mm width
was created at the mid-span of the specimens. In order to fabricate specimens with different notch depth
to total depth (a/W) ratios for determining size independent fracture energy, the notch was created with
two different depths: 10 mm and 40 mm since the depth of the specimen is constant (100 mm). Three
specimens were fabricated for each type with varying a/W ratio to check the consistency in the measure-
ments. Two steel knife-edges were affixed at the bottom of the specimen closer to the notch on both
the sides. Clip on gauge (10 mm ± 4 mm) was inserted between both the knife edges to measure the
crack mouth opening displacement (CMOD).
Speckle pattern was applied on one side of the specimen for DIC measurements. The accuracy in dis-
placement measurement greatly depends on the surface preparation, search patch size, distance between
search patch centres, length resolution, etc. The measured surface displacements are found to be very
sensitive to length resolution and search patch sizes (Lecompte et al., 2006; Mamand & Chen, 2017;
Mauroux et al., 2012; Shah & Kishen, 2011; Skar_zynski et al., 2013). Two numbers of 2 mega pixel cameras
were mounted on a tripod stand focusing the specimen to capture the images at an interval of 10 s.
White light was used for illumination of the specimens. A rectangular region around the notch was cap-
tured with the resolution of 1600  1200 pixels (length resolution of 10 pixels/mm). It is to underscore
that the available resources with the best possible resolution were employed in the present
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 5

investigations, the length resolution plays a significant role on the accuracy of the DIC measurements
ski et al., 2013). The subset size of 17 pixels, the subset spacing of 17 pixels, search radius of 128
(Skar_zyn
pixels and an accuracy of 0.1 pixels were used for analysing the obtained DIC data.
AE sensors were mounted on the other side of the specimen (as shown in Figure 1c). Sensor positions
were chosen in such a way that it would be near the possible location of the first initial crack and the
sensor network would be able to capture the entire fracture process zone during loading. AE sensor of
type R15 with the resonant frequency of 150 kHz was used. Horizontal distance between the sensors on
the specimen surface was 100 mm. For capturing the crack initiation and propagation related activities
(events), AE sensors were symmetrically placed. SAMOS 48-channel AE system from Physical Acoustics
Corporation was used in this study. The integrated system consists of AE transducers, in-built pre-ampli-
fiers and a data acquisition system. Sample rate of 2 MSPS (Mega Samples Per Second) was chosen for
the present study. Grease was applied on to the AE sensor bottom surface to improve upon the acoustic
coupling between the sensors and the concrete. Screw-on type clamping holders were used to hold the
sensors in place during the tests. The signals crossing the threshold limit of 35 dB were considered as
acoustic signal for the present study and the signals were amplified using 40 dB in-built pre-amplifier and
fed directly into AE acquisition system integrated with a computer embedded AEwin software. The accur-
acy of AE technique to determine the fracture properties of concrete depends on several factors like the
wave velocity, picking of arrival time, signal to noise ratio, sensor layout, algorithm used, etc. (ASTM
E1316-06a, 2006; Boniface et al., 2020; Chaipanich et al., 2010; Tragazikis et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2020).
The specimens were then subjected to three point bending in a high precision, servo-controlled UTM of
capacity 25 kN. The load was applied in a displacement control mode with a rate of 0.1 mm/min.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Fracture energy of PVA fiber incorporated concrete
From the fracture tests carried out as explained in Sec. 2, the load versus CMOD plot was obtained. From
this plot, the fracture energy of the concrete is calculated using:
ðW0 þ mgd0 Þ
GF ¼ (1)
Alig
where W0 is the area under the load-CMOD curve (N/m), d0 is the CMOD at the failure of the prism (m),
Alig is the area of the ligament beyond the notch region (m2), m is the weight of the prism between sup-
ports (kg) and g is the acceleration due to gravity (m/s2). The load versus CMOD of the specimens with
different notch depths is presented in Figure 2. It is clear from the figure that an appropriate amount of
chemical fibers like PVA if incorporated in concrete, will not only tremendously increase the strain cap-
acity of concrete, but also provides the strain hardening property (which makes it special from other
fibers). Unlike other fibers, PVA fibers develop chemical bond with the surrounding concrete in addition
to the mechanical bond. When PVA fiber tries to be pulled out from the concrete, stable debonding of
chemical bond happens at the interface. After the chemical bond is completely broken, the fibers try to
slip out of the concrete which is governed by the frictional (mechanical) bond (Sindu & Sasmal, 2019).
Due to the favourable slip coefficient and the chemical bond offered by PVA fibers, the concrete exhibits
strain hardening phenomenon. This can be witnessed in 2PVA specimens. Due to significantly improved
strain carrying capacity and the unique strain hardening property, this type of fibers (PVA) are increas-
ingly being used for concrete structures (Krouma & Syed, 2016).
Mechanical size effect is an important phenomenon observed in quasi-brittle materials like concrete.
Bazant (1999) reported that there exists deterministic size effect in concrete which is more overwhelming
than the statistical size effect and greatly influences the specimen strength and brittleness. This determin-
istic size effect is caused by the formation of intense strain localization due to formation of micro-cracks
(preceded by macro-crack) in a region called fracture process zone (FPZ). Unlike metals where the FPZ is
negligible, FPZ is sizable in concrete in comparison to specimen size and cannot be neglected, since it
causes significant stress redistribution (energy absorbance in localized failure zones) and the associated
energy release. With the increase in specimen (structural member) size, the energy release increases but
the energy absorption remains almost similar. Due to this non-linear energy distribution, there is a
decrease in the nominal strength of larger specimens. Similarly, with the increase in the size of the
6 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 2. Load vs. CMOD of PVA fiber incorporated concrete specimens with (a) 10 mm and (b) 40 mm notch depth.

specimen, concrete behaves in a more brittle manner (Suchorzewski et al., 2019). Hence, the fracture
energy depends on geometry (size and a/W) of the specimen. It has been identified that when cracks
develop closer to the back surface of the concrete specimen, the size of the FPZ is limited due to the
limited ligament length available (Hu & Wittmann, 2000). Therefore, fracture energy from the specimens
with a limited FPZ will be lesser than that from the specimens with dimensions sufficient for fully devel-
oped FPZ (RILEM draft recommendation, 1985). This size effect restricts the determination of the real frac-
ture energy of concrete specimens. Hence, in order to bring out the fracture energy purely as a material
parameter, size independent fracture energy needs to be determined. From the bilinear fracture energy
approximation proposed by Abdalla and Karihaloo (2004),

 the size independent fracture energy, GF is cal-
culated from the size dependent fracture energy Gf Wa of specimens with different Wa ratios using the fol-
lowing expression.
8  
>
> 1 al =W a al
  >
< GF 1  : , 1 >
a 2 1  a=W W W
Gf ¼ (2)
W >
> 1 al =W a al
>
: GF : 2 : 1  a=W , 1 W  W

where al is the ligament length. The size dependent fracture energy is obtained for different Wa ratios and
the system of equations are solved to obtain size independent fracture energy ðGF Þ and ligament length
ðal Þ which is presented in Table 3. It is observed that incorporation of PVA fibers into concrete leads to
huge improvement in its fracture energy. The improvement is as high as 10 times when 2% of PVA fibers
are incorporated which demonstrates the improvement in dissipation potential of concrete due to incorp-
oration of PVA fibers. This may be due to the development of multiple dissipation sites in the form of
multiple crack formation and crack bridging, a typical phenomenon offered by PVA fibers in the matrix
which is also evident from the DIC analysis given below.
A virtual strain gauge (of approximately 30 mm) is used to monitor the strain along the mid-span of
the prism at certain distance above the notch. The strain profile of plain concrete and PVA fiber (1%)
incorporated concrete at different stages of loading is provided in Figure 3. It can be observed from the
figure that when the load is 60% of peak load (in the post-peak region), there is a sudden increase in
strain in plain concrete which keeps increasing up to 20% of peak load and then shows sudden discon-
tinuity, which specifies the development of crack. However, in case of PVA fiber incorporated concrete,
crack develops at 60% of post peak load itself. Further, in the case of 40% post peak load, two zones of
strain discontinuities are witnessed which represent the multiple cracking phenomenon. The tendency of
fibers to dissipate energy and thereby not causing strain amplification at a certain point (as in case of
plain concrete) can also be clearly witnessed from this figure. Another interesting phenomenon is crack
branching. Generally, when concrete specimens are loaded, like any other materials, energy is getting
consumed which can take the form of crack branching. From the aspect of material properties, crack
branching is a mechanism related with toughening (Fayyad & Lees, 2017). In the process of micro-cracks
propagation, when the crack tips counter the obstructions (could be due to the presence of coarse
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 7

Table 3. Size independent fracture energy of PVA fiber incorporated concrete.

Ligament length Size independent fracture energy Percentage increase w.r.t
Nomenclature (mm) (J/m2) plain concrete
PC 61.40 268.75 –
1PVA 78.50 2635.04 880
2PVA 82.35 2986.93 1011

aggregate or fibers), more energy is required for continuing the crack propagation and it can also cause
the crack branching. In the case of fiber reinforced concrete, the fibers act to bridge the crack. It
increases the possibilities of redistribution of stress and also, the crack branching. Primarily, the crack
branching and the redistribution of stress provides the strain hardening behaviour of fiber reinforced
concrete. The crack branching of PVA concrete specimens are investigated in detail in the following sec-
tion. The horizontal strain profiles of 1PVA and 2PVA specimens at different load levels (A, B, C and D) as
marked in Figure 2a) is presented in Figures 4(a) and 5(a) respectively. In 1PVA specimen, crack branching
takes place at load level A at the height of 53 mm from the bottom of the specimen. After a new branch
has formed, the old crack ceases to propagate (it only widens with further increase in load). However,
the new branch starts to propagate in both the directions (towards notch and towards loading point).
The boundaries of both the cracks (left crack and right crack) at different load levels are presented in
Figure 4(b) and 4(c) respectively.
The phenomenon of crack branching in 2PVA specimen is quite different from 1PVA specimen. A sin-
gle crack develops up to the height of 49 mm from the bottom of the specimen. From this crack, FPZ
develops along two distinct paths (can be witnessed at load level B). The FPZ on the left path develops
into a macro-crack whereas the FPZ on the right side grows and merges with left crack at the height of
58 mm and grows together up to the height of 65 mm. At 65 mm, crack branching takes place again and
both the cracks propagate separately. The crack boundaries of both the branches along with their
branching points of 2PVA specimen are presented in Figure 5.
Further, in-depth investigations are carried out to investigate the fracture parameters of PVA fibers
incorporated concrete using advanced image based (digital image correlation, DIC) and wave based
(acoustic emission, AE) techniques where the brief procedure is discussed in the preceding sections.

3.2. Fracture characteristics of PVA fiber incorporated concrete

To understand the fracture characteristics of PVA fiber incorporated concrete, the information obtained
from both DIC and AE technique are thoroughly analyzed. At first, the distribution of AE hits, in plain
and PVA fiber incorporated concrete is evaluated. The cumulative AE hits obtained in each type of speci-
men are correlated with their load-CMOD curves (as shown in Figure 6).
From these figures, three distinct stages are identified. From all the specimens, it can be observed
that AE starts to emit at slower rate before the load reaches its peak. Rate of AE hits appears to increase
rapidly after the load reached its maximum value. It is commonly observed from all the specimens that
high AE hit rates occur simultaneously with sudden load drop, caused by crack formation. When compar-
ing the specimens with and without PVA fibers, the maximum amount of acquired AE events of 1PVA
specimen is about 30,000, while that of plain concrete is only 14,000. Total AE hits of fiber reinforced
concrete are about twice that of in plain concrete, which is due to the additional mechanisms such as
fiber pull-out and sliding with the presence of fibers. Moreover, owing to the brittle behaviour of plain
concrete, the duration of AE signals is much less than that of fiber incorporated specimens which results
in receiving less AE hits.
It can also be observed that the figure related to the cumulative AE hits versus CMOD plot initially
starts with very less slope and then the slope becomes steeper as the load reaches the maximum, then
the slope gradually decreases. In case of plain concrete, the cumulative AE hits tend towards a stable
value at the post peak load region. But in contrast to this, the cumulative AE hits continue to rise in case
of fiber reinforced concrete (say in 2PVA) and reaches to a stable position later. This indicates (through
acoustic characteristics) the change in fracture process in chemical fiber incorporated concrete with
respect to the fracture process in plain concrete.
In order to identify the underlying phenomenon of observed difference in AE patterns in three differ-
ent stages, the data obtained from cumulative AE hits is also correlated with DIC. The crack initiation
8 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 3. Strain profile (in me) of plain and PVA fiber incorporated concrete.
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 9

Figure 4. Phenomenon of crack branching in 1PVA specimen (a) horizontal strain profile (in micro-strain), crack boundaries of (b)
left crack and (c) right crack at different load levels.

Figure 5. Phenomenon of crack branching in 2PVA specimen (a) horizontal strain profile (in micro-strain), crack boundaries of (b)
left crack and (c) right crack at different load levels (dashed line indicates the crack boundary before branching).
10 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 6. Cumulative AE hits correlated with load-CMOD response.

Figure 7. Different stages of crack formation in concrete (typical).

and, subsequent propagation across the depth of the specimen is monitored using DIC technique. A typ-
ical contour plot of principal strain energy obtained from DIC at three different load levels is presented
in Figure 6. When the specimen is subjected to loading, many micro-cracks develop near the tip of the
notch (shown in Figure 7a). This zone is called fracture process zone (FPZ) and acts as energy dissipating
region. As the load on the specimen is increased, the FPZ further extends (Figure 7b). Upon further load-
ing, the micro-cracks merge together to form a macro-crack (shown in Figure 7c).
At different load levels, length of the crack from the notch tip is measured from DIC data and com-
pared with the cumulative AE hits (plotted in Figure 8a for 1PVA specimen). It is interesting to note that
there is a good correlation between crack length (from DIC) and the cumulative AE hits (from acoustic
investigations). Following both the crack length variation and AE hits development, three distinct stages
are characterized. Further, the strain energy contour obtained from DIC is also correlated with the AE
events map (red dots in the figure indicate the location of each AE event) in all three stages.
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 11

Three stages identified by correlating both AE and DIC data are as follows:
Stage A—It can be observed from Figure 8(b) that few AE events are recorded on the lower region
near the notch during stage A. The DIC strain profile in stage A also shows an increased strain in that
region without any visible crack. So, this stage can be attributed to the development of FPZ (formation
of micro-cracks). Hence, this stage can be identified as the ‘crack initiation stage’.
Stage B—DIC data obtained at this stage shows a strain discontinuity indicating the development of
macro-crack (Figure 8c). The previously formed micro-cracks merge together to develop into a macro
crack. Some new micro-cracks also form which, in turn, add to the already developed macro-crack. This
leads to the increase in the length of macro crack. This is marked by steep increase in the crack length
along the depth of the prism, as observed through DIC (Figure 8a). This stage is termed as ‘crack propa-
gation stage’. The same is even depicted by the steep increase in the AE hits at this stage. It is interest-
ing to note that there is a wide scatter in the locations of the AE events observed at this stage. This may
be attributed to the complex damage mechanisms taking place by the distribution of PVA fibers inside
the specimen and the mechanisms associated with the fiber bridging (crack bridging) which mainly
defines the fracture process zone. In the following subsections, it will be discussed on how AE event loca-
tions can be used to determine the length and width of the fracture process zone.
Stage C—At this stage, there is no significant increase in crack length (Figure 8a). However, the already
developed macro-crack widens (as can be witnessed in Figure 8d). Though crack widens, there is less
increase in crack length owing to the fiber mechanisms such as fiber pull out and sliding during stage C.
Around the main crack, few AE events are located due to the combined effect of slight micro-crack for-
mation and complex fiber interaction. This stage is identified as ‘crack arrest stage’.
By comparing the occurrence of different stages in plain concrete (as shown in Figure 8e), it can be
observed that the duration of Stage C is significantly less compared to the previous case.
Another interesting observation made is that, the AE hits are more scattered (compared to DIC strain
profile in Figure 8b–d) in the case of 1PVA. However, in case of plain concrete, the observations on strain
localization (as observed in DIC) and the distribution of AE hits (as shown in Figure 8f–h) corroborate
well. This indicates the complex fiber interaction phenomenon observed in this case.
Data clustering is done further to establish a relationship between a specific fracture mechanism
(micro-crack formation/crack initiation, macro-crack development/crack propagation, fiber sliding/pull out)
and its acoustic signature. This also helps in getting better insight into the AE data obtained in identified
stages from different types of concrete (plain and PVA fiber incorporated concrete). Well known k-Means
learning algorithm is used to cluster the AE data with input features such as amplitude, rise time, counts
and duration (de Oliveira & Marques, 2008; Godin et al., 2005). The k-means algorithm is a simple but
robust tool for pattern recognition analysis which helps in classifying ‘n’ observations into ‘k’ clusters, in
which each observation belongs to the cluster with the nearest mean (Godin et al., 2005). This method
only requires the number ‘k’ (desired and feasible number of meaningful groups/clusters) as input. To
determine the better ‘k’ value for classification among the different sources of AE mechanisms, different
validity criteria are available.
Presently, the Silhouette coefficient (Struyf et al., 1997) is employed to determine the suitable ‘k’ value
for each identified stages. Here, the classification is considered as a three clusters problem. The results of
AE pattern recognition by projecting the classified signals onto the rise time versus duration plane are
presented in Figure 9.
The signal type I is the intrinsic characteristic of the signal observed at all the stages in both plain and
PVA incorporated specimens. Since, those types of signals appeared at the very beginning of the test
and that micro-cracking is the major fracture mechanism at that stage, and also considering that micro-
cracks are also generated during the formation of macro-crack in later stages, this AE signal can be attrib-
uted to micro-cracking. The signal type II is the characteristics of the signals observed in the stages B
and C. Signals of type II showed higher duration compared to signal type I. The signal type II is believed
to be due to macro-crack propagation. Signal type III is observed at B and C stages of PVA fibers incorpo-
rated specimens. Hence, they are due to fiber mechanisms such as fiber pull out/sliding.
It is found that, in 1PVA specimens micro-cracking (signal type I) appears in large number at the
beginning (stage A) of the flexural test, while fiber mechanism, say fiber pull out/sliding (signal type III)
increases till the end of the test. Whereas macro-crack propagation (signal type II) starts to appear only
in stage B and gets stabilized in stage C owing to the crack arrest. In plain concrete specimens, signal
type III is not identifiable due to the complete absence of fibers in the concrete.
12 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 8. Located AE events along with DIC strain profile during different stages for PVA fiber incorporated concrete and
plain concrete.

3.3. Characterization of FPZ

The most significant parameter in the fracture process of concrete is the size of FPZ. Hence, an attempt
has been made to determine the size of FPZ (of both plain and PVA fiber incorporated concrete) through
complementary DIC and AE techniques. This may not be possible by using the strain/displacement based
measurements using conventional sensors. The size of FPZ of chemical fiber incorporated concrete is
evaluated using AE technique following the similar procedure employed in Alam et al. (2014) and Labuz
et al. (2001). The specimen surface is divided into a two dimensional (XY) grid of square elements with
uniform dimensions of 10 mm  10 mm. On each discretized grid, the number of AE events recorded at
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 13

Figure 9. k-means clustering of PC and 1PVA on 2D projection.

Figure 10. Evaluation of width of FPZ.

Table 4. Energy calculation for fixing the A and B value (AE1¼103, AE2¼104, AE3¼105, AE4¼106).
Cement system Energy range % of total AE events % of total AE energy
CP0 <AE1 39.65 0.66
>AE1 60.35 99.34
>AE2 15.58 94.05
>AE3 2.79 81.05
>AE4 0.58 57.46
CP20 <AE1 40.77 0.11
>AE1 59.23 99.89
>AE2 17.49 99.20
>AE3 2.02 97.26
>AE4 0.53 92.30
CP40 <AE1 21.76 0.01
>AE1 78.24 99.99
>AE2 48.95 99.88
>AE3 29.29 99.28
>AE4 21.34 96.99
14 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 11. AE source location map selected by four energy stages (1PVA, till to the peak load): (a) higher than AE1; (b) higher
than AE2; (d) higher than AE3; (e) higher than AE4.

different loading intervals is noted. To evaluate the width of FPZ, first cumulative number of AE events
recorded for a particular location, say x, is plotted. Figure 10 shows the cumulative number of events in
the final loading step.
It can be seen that the number of AE events is more in the zone above the notch and decreases grad-
ually on both sides. To determine the width of FPZ, horizontal line located at some percentage (for
example, A%) of Nmax (Nmax corresponds to the peak of the cumulative AE events) is considered. Thus,
the width of FPZ is identified as the zone in which cumulative AE events at each x location is more than
or equal to A% of Nmax. The value of A is chosen in such a way that the AE energy in this zone is higher
than the 95% of the total energy (Otsuka & Date, 2000). All the AE events are divided into five stages of
energy levels from less than AE1 to more than AE4 as shown in the Table 4.
The cumulative energy of AE events in each energy level (AE1, AE2, AE3 and AE4) and the percentage
in relation to the total energy are calculated for the all three specimens. The distribution of the total
number of AE events at each energy stage is pictorially represented in Figure 12. Though almost 40% of
all AE events occurred at the stage below the energy of AE1, the energy sum of these events was only
0.67% of the total of all events. This indicates that the large number of small energy AE events (under
AE1 level) contribute only a little to the fracture of concrete. Figure 11 shows the maps of the AE event
locations subdivided into five energy stages at failure load level in 1PVA specimen. Figure 11(a)–(d)
exhibits the maps of AE events of higher energy than AE1, AE2, AE3 and AE4, respectively. It is observed
that the higher energy events tend to localize near the notch tip. According to the map of Figure 11(b),
AE sources are randomly distributed. In Figure 11(c), AE events are densely distributed just above notch
region and the corresponding percentage of the total energy of events higher than AE2 is 97.3% of the
total energy of all events (see Table 4).
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 15

Figure 12. Evolution of FPZ width.

Following this procedure, the width and length of FPZ is determined from the AE events distribution
plot. As a result, the value of A is chosen from Figure 10 using the known width. Width of FPZ evaluated
at different CMODs is shown in Figure 12. It is to note that the FPZ starts from 95% of peak load in plain
concrete and from 75–85% of peak load in PVA fiber incorporated concrete. The FPZ also continues to
exist in the post peak region. The maximum width of FPZ in plain concrete is found to be 60 mm
(¼thrice the maximum size of aggregate) which is in line with the values reported in the literature (Alam
et al., 2014; Hadjab et al., 2004; Keerthana & Kishen, 2020; Mihashi & Nomura, 1996). In the case of
fibrous concrete, the maximum width of FPZ is much higher (¼ 90 mm, 4.5 times the maximum size of
aggregate or 3 times the length of fiber used in this study). This higher FPZ demonstrates the advantage
offered by the chemical (PVA) fibers in improving the fracture properties of concrete. Though the FPZ of
1PVA (1% fibers) and 2PVA (2% fibers) is almost same, it can be observed that the FPZ of 1PVA stabilizes
much earlier (at CMOD/CMODpeak ¼ 0.5) when compared to 2PVA where it stabilizes at CMOD/CMODpeak
¼ 0.75. This explains the reason behind different levels of softening in 1PVA and 2PVA specimens.

3.3.1. Width of FPZ from DIC

The width of FPZ was also determined from DIC investigations. Determining the width of FPZ from DIC
investigations is not straight-forward due to the challenges involved in identifying its borders. The
method proposed by Skarz_ ynski and Tejchman (2013) has been used in this study for this purpose. A vir-
tual gauge was assigned above the notch, and the displacement and strain profile along the gauge was
investigated, as shown in Figure 13(b) and 13(c). In order to determine the width of FPZ, the displace-
ment along the virtual gauge was fitted with error function (Eq. 3) and the strain along the virtual gauge
was fitted with Gauss function (Eq. 4).
ðx
2
ERFðxÞ ¼ pffiffiffi et dt
2
(3)
p
0
1
f ðx, rÞ ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffi e2ðrÞ
1 x 2
(4)
r 2p
The width of FPZ is determined as 4  r since 95% of the Gauss distribution area (representing strain
distribution) occupied between (mþ2r) and (m2r) (as shown in Figure 14). The width of FPZ was deter-
mined using this procedure at different load levels for plain concrete and PVA concrete (with 1% and 2%
of fibers), and the same is presented in Figure 15. It can be found from the figure that the maximum
width of FPZ is 7.32 mm in case of plain concrete, 9.65 mm in case of 1PVA and 11.16 mm in case of
16 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 13. (a) Strain contour of 1PVA specimen above the notch, (b) horizontal displacement profile and (c) horizontal strain pro-
file along the virtual gauge at 50% peak load.

Figure 14. Typical gauss distribution function (showing 95% distribution between m2r and mþ2r) which is used for determin-
ation of the width of FPZ.

2PVA specimens. Thus, the width of FPZ is found to be 0.365 times the maximum size of aggregate
(dmax) in plain concrete and 0.48–0.56 times dmax in PVA concrete.
The width of FPZ determined from DIC investigations is compared with the width of FPZ determined
from AE studies. The maximum width of FPZ in plain concrete obtained from AE is found to be 60 mm
(3  dmax) whereas it is found to be only 7.32 mm (0.365  dmax) from DIC. Similarly, the maximum width
of FPZ in PVA concrete obtained from AE is found to be 90 mm (4.5  dmax) whereas it is determined as
9.65–11.16 mm (0.48–0.56  dmax) from DIC. This difference in width of FPZ values obtained from AE and
DIC is due to the fact that DIC directly captures the surface phenomenon (information obtained from dis-
placement and strain) whereas AE provides the information on the events that occur inside the matrix of
the material. Nevertheless, AE cannot directly differentiate between events related to FPZ, and crack for-
mation and propagation. However, unlike AE, DIC can clearly and distinctively provide the FPZ informa-
tion as it is determined from the strain development. This underlines the need for further in-depth
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 17

Figure 15. Width of FPZ determined from DIC investigations (䊉-peak load, x-macro-crack formation).

investigations in future wherein the AE events can be appropriately acquired and processed to segregate
the information related to FPZ formation out of the whole acoustic activities, so that the results corre-
sponding to a particular event obtained from AE can be compared with the information derived
from DIC.
Similar procedure is adopted to determine the length of FPZ also and plotted in Figure 16. The length
of FPZ determined through AE technique at different CMODs (CMOD/CMODpeak) for plain concrete speci-
men is compared with that obtained through DIC technique (presented in Figure 16a). It can be observed
that the length of FPZ determined through both the techniques is reasonably similar up to a particular
stage (CMOD/CMODpeak ¼ 0.625 in this case). To understand the difference in measurements observed
from both the techniques beyond certain CMOD level, the data obtained from both the techniques are
further analyzed. When the crack length of the specimen is measured from DIC and it was added with
the length of FPZ (shown in Figure 16b), the measurements from both the techniques corroborate well.
This observation specifically points out the advantage of DIC which has the ability to clearly distinguish
the FPZ from cracks as against that acquired information from AE. However, it is to mention that DIC
technique is a surface measurement technique and hence, it may not be able to capture the events that
occur inside the specimen. Nevertheless, the same can efficiently be obtained through complementary
AE technique (if the FPZ and crack related events are not required to be distinguished). The decrease in
length of FPZ beyond CMOD/CMODpeak ¼ 0.625 determined through DIC technique is due to limitation
in the size of the specimen.
The length of FPZ of PVA fiber incorporated concrete (with different dosage levels of PVA fibers)
determined through DIC technique is presented in Figure 17). The figure clearly demonstrates the influ-
ence of PVA fibers in improving the length of FPZ, which will ultimately improve the fracture characteris-
tics of the specimen. An increase of approximately 14% in the length of FPZ is observed due to
incorporation of 2% of PVA fibers.

3.4. Characterization of crack

The crack characteristics of PVA fiber incorporated concrete were also obtained from DIC measurements.
The macro-crack occurred during the post-peak region of the load versus CMOD curve in both plain and
PVA fiber incorporated concrete. The crack length of specimens with different dosages of PVA fibers is
plotted in Figure 18. It is to mention that since fiber incorporated concrete undergoes large deformation,
the rate of loading of 0.1 mm/min. was adopted. Further since the fracture characteristics had to be
18 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

Figure 16. Damage characteristics of PC determined through AE and DIC (a) FPZ length and (b) FPZ þ crack length.

Figure 17. Evolution of length of FPZ (for PC, after CMOD of 0.4, the observed FPZ may just be the crack opening).

compared between plain concrete and fibrous concrete, the same rate of loading was adopted for plain
concrete specimens also. Due to the higher rate of loading and the brittle nature of plain concrete, sud-
den failure occurred wherein a large single crack caused the specimen to fail. Due to this reason, the
crack propagation could not be sequentially captured in plain concrete. However, it is to mention that
the growth of FPZ could be sufficiently captured (owing to data acquisition through DIC and AE with
higher frames per second/sampling frequency) which was presented in the previous section. The figure
(Figure 18) quantitatively demonstrates the brittle nature of plain concrete which later becomes ductile
due to incorporation of PVA fibers. It can be observed from the plot that the plain concrete specimen
displays a large crack at CMOD of around 0.125 mm (50% of peak load) and then the sudden failure of
the specimen occurred. However, the specimens with PVA fibers exhibited small cracks at a CMOD of
0.2 mm (70% of peak load) and the cracks propagated in a steady state and got saturated. It is worth-
mentioning that the specimens with PVA fibers didn’t fail completely even at the CMOD of 4 mm and
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 19

Figure 18. Evolution of crack.

Figure 19. Width of the crack along the depth of the prism (at a particular CMOD ¼ 1).

were still able to take some load. It is also interesting to note that the length of the crack of concrete
with 2% PVA fibers is smaller than the concrete with 1% PVA fibers till CMOD of 2.5 mm. It is due to the
fact that the presence of fiber provides the better load transfer mechanism through chemical bond and
mechanical friction, thus result in the micro cracks at early stage. Further, unlike the normal concrete, dis-
tributed cracks appear during the progression of load after post-peak. Points depicting the formation of
FPZ and macro-crack are also marked in load-CMOD curves given in Figure 15.
The width of the crack was also measured along the depth of the prism for plain concrete and con-
crete with 1% PVA fibers at a particular CMOD (1 mm) and presented in Figure 19. It can be observed
that the crack width is less in case of 1PVA specimen as against plain concrete. It is also interesting to
note that the crack width in plain concrete is nearly constant throughout the height of the specimen
whereas in the case of 1PVA, the crack widens in a steady manner along the depth. The efficient crack
bridging and enhanced crack control, the major factors for extraordinary mechanical and durability prop-
erties of PVA fiber incorporated concrete are very evident from this figure. The crack width diagram for
different load stages as obtained from the DIC studies has provided a very important information on the
crack bridging mechanism. It also indicates the initiation of fracture process zone in concrete. It is clear
from the figure that the rigid opening of crack takes place in plain concrete after certain load and
20 B. S. SINDU ET AL.

propagates very fast with the increase of load and causes sudden failure, whereas the PVA fiber incorpo-
rated strain hardened concrete specimen shows a sharp change in the crack width along the depth and
depict that even at post-peak loading, the multiple crack bridging provides the path for establishing the
force transfer mechanism.

4. Concluding remarks
In the present study, complementary image correlation and wave propagation (passive acoustic emission)
based technique is proposed and demonstrated for crack monitoring of strain hardened concrete. In the
present study, chemical fiber (PVA) incorporated concrete is used to investigate the crack initiation and
propagation during damage progression. Following conclusions have been drawn:

1. The size independent fracture energy of concrete improved by as high as 10 times when 2% of PVA
fibers were incorporated into it. This may be due to the chemical and mechanical resistance (chem-
ical and friction bond) offered by PVA fibers with the surrounding concrete and the multiple energy
dissipation sites (also demonstrated from the DIC strain profile) developed due to the complex crack
bridging offered by PVA fibers
2. The crack length measured from DIC strain profile and the cumulative AE hits showed a close correl-
ation. From these results, three categorically distinct stages of fracture process (matrix crack initi-
ation, macro-crack formation, fiber sliding/pull out) of PVA concrete have been identified
3. Further AE data clustering is done to establish a relationship between a specific fracture mechanism
and its acoustic signature. Three different types of signals (I, II and III) were observed in PVA con-
crete while only two types of signals (I and II) were observed in plain concrete. It has been observed
that 71% of the AE signals correspond to type I and the rest belong to type II in plain concrete
whereas in PVA concrete about 52% of the total AE signals are in type I, 12% in type II, and 36%
belong to type III.
4. The crack characteristics like the size of FPZ and crack formations were also quantitatively deter-
mined in plain and PVA fiber incorporated concrete. The maximum width of FPZ found from AE in
plain concrete and PVA concrete is found to be 60 mm (3  dmax) and 90 mm (4.5  dmax) whereas
the maximum width of FPZ measured from DIC is 7.32 mm (0.365  dmax) in case of plain concrete
and 9.65–11.16 mm (0.48–0.56  dmax) in case of PVA concrete which is in line with the values
reported by Skarzynski and Tejchman (2013) (0.25–1.5 times dmax)
5. This difference in width of FPZ values obtained from AE and DIC is due to the fact that AE captures
the events that occur inside the matrix of the material. However, AE cannot differentiate between
events related to crack formation and propagation, and FPZ. However, unlike AE, DIC can clearly and
distinctively provide the FPZ information as it is determined from the strain development. This
underlines the need for further in-depth investigations (on acoustic emission signals) to segregate
the information related to FPZ formation out of the whole acoustic activities if the distinct measure-
ment of width of FPZ needs to be carried out through AE parameters.

It has been demonstrated that the crack characteristics, such as location, length and width of crack
and the propagation directions can be accurately determined using the complementary DIC and AE tech-
niques. The present study also brought out that the distinction of different stages of crack and the frac-
ture process zone of strain hardened concrete that can be efficiently estimated using the proposed
complementary techniques.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge the staff of Special and Multifunctional Structures Laboratory
(SMSL), CSIR-SERC for their help during experiments.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
 EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND CIVIL ENGINEERING 21

ORCID
B. S. Sindu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7138-7917
A. Thirumalaiselvi http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6232-3943
Saptarshi Sasmal http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6780-3567

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