Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456

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Construction and Building Materials

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/conbuildmat

Experimental research of the AE responses and fracture evolution

characteristics for sand-paraffin similar material
Xiaoran Wang b, Xiaofei Liu a,b, Enyuan Wang a,b,⇑, Xuelong Li b, Xin Zhang c, Chong Zhang b, Biao Kong b
a
Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Gas and Fire Prevention and Control of the Ministry of Education, China University of Mining and Technology, Xu Zhou, Jiangsu 221116, China
b
School of Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xu Zhou, Jiangsu 221116, China
c
School of Management, China University of Mining and Technology, Xu Zhou, Jiangsu 221116, China

h i g h l i g h t s

The mechanical properties, failure forms and AE responses of SP are studied.

The damage fragment evolution mechanism and effect of particle size are analyzed.

The coupling relationship between mechanical parameters and AE of SP are obtained.

Provide the scientific basis for better selection and matching of simulating material.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The research for the features of similar material mechanics, the law of acoustic emission (AE) responses
Received 12 May 2016 and fracture evolution characteristics can reflect the regularity of deformation, stress and fracture of coal
Received in revised form 7 October 2016 and rock, revealing the evolution mechanism of dynamic disasters. We studied the mechanical properties
Accepted 7 December 2016
of loaded sand-paraffin (SP) samples associated with different mixture ratio and the damage evolution of
Available online 18 December 2016
internal cracks based on AE. Results show that (1) with the increase of paraffin content, mechanical
parameters of SP samples including compressive strength, elastic modulus, tensile strength, Poisson’s
Keywords:
ratio and internal friction angle show the overall upward trend, while failure pattern transitions to wedge
Similar material simulation
Material ratio
splitting type and brittle shear failure from extrusion powder flexible broken; (2) the AE test can reflect
Mechanical properties the internal damage degree of SP samples and law of its space-time evolution. Along with the load
AE response increase, the AE response can be divided into three stages: slow growth, rapid growth and saturation,
Damage evolution while also the damage variable reduces first then increases rapidly and grows slowly at last; (3) using
the quadratic polynomial fitting, fragment expressions of damage evolution mechanism of SP are
obtained. Based on Weibull distribution, we get the AE parameters (cumulative pulses) coupling mechan-
ical parameters (stress and strain) expression, which fits better with the experimental data. By studying
the mechanical parameters, the main failure form, AE response characteristics and its internal damage
evolution rule, the paper evaluate the mechanical properties of the SP material from the macroscopic
appearance to the microscopic mechanism, which provides the scientific basis for better selection and
matching the material of analog simulation.
Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The technology of similar material simulation is a simple and
intuitive physical research method. With reasonable similarity
ratio, properties of rock and soil can be simulated including the
deformation, the stress, the crack evolution and the disasters pro-
⇑ Corresponding author at: Key Laboratory of Coal Mine Gas and Fire Prevention
and Control of the Ministry of Education, China University of Mining and
Technology, Xu Zhou, Jiangsu 221116, China.
E-mail address: cumtwey@163.com (E. Wang).
cess and rules, overcoming the difficulties in the field measure-
ment. So this method has been widely applied in petroleum,
mining, geological engineering and other fields [1–6]. In the pro-
cess of mining activities in coal mines, the dynamic phenomena
and disasters frequently occur associated with mining process
which include coal and gas outburst, rock burst, evolution of min-
ing induced overburden crack, and roadway deformation and fail-
ure [7–10]. To reveal the mechanism of these dynamic disasters
caused by mining action, we need to carry out tests based on phys-
ical similar model to reproduce its dynamic evolution process. Real

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.12.028
0950-0618/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456
materials of coal or rock can hardly be used in the process of con-
structing similarity simulation experiment, therefore, the choice of
materials and ratio which are similar to the results of model tests
play a decisive role [11–14].
Similar material for coal or rock simulation is composed mostly
of aggregate and cement agent referring to the literature reviewing
[15–18]. The common aggregate is made mainly with sand, barite
powder or pumice powder, and as for the cement agent it usually
contains plaster, cement or sodium silicate. For example, Li et al.
[15] developed a new similar material (PSTO) for solid-fluid cou-
pling using sand and talc powder as aggregated, sodium silicate
as a cementing agent. Wang et al. [16] made use of a certain parti-
cle size coal powder as the framework material, humic acid sodium
solution as the cement for the coal and gas outburst simulation
test. These similar materials play an important role in their appli-
cation areas, but they can hardly be used in the large-scale similar
model tests reflecting the stress transfer and fracture evolution of
surrounding rocks due to their badly cementing properties. So, the
combination of sand and paraffin is proposed as the similar mate-
rial which can simulate the deep roadway deformation and the
evolution of mining induced overburden crack with the advantages
including the good cementing properties, stable mechanical prop-
erties and similar failure characteristics.
What is the right material ratio and how much can it reflect the
real material? In the past study, evaluation principles involve
stress-strain curve, physical and mechanical properties (compres-
sive strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus, Poisson’s ratio,
etc.) and macro-destruction of the sample [19], which are just
judged from the macroscopic appearance. Owing to the opacity
of samples, the internal cracks evolution and the development pro-
cess of damage cannot be directly observed, whether the similar
material internal deformation as well as the development and evo-
lution of fracture are alike with coal and rock in spirit is rarely
studied.
Acoustic emissions (AE) are elastic waves generated from the
deformation and the creation of micro-cracks, with the capability
of real-time, dynamic, continuous monitoring of coal, rock, con-
crete, metal alloys and other materials crack propagation process,
and locating the position of cracking event in the three-
dimensional space, which is a powerful tool to investigate the evo-
lution of internal cracks and damages [20–28]. Kong et al. [29]
studied the damage patterns of gassy coal under triaxial test and
the AE response characteristics during damage evolution to ana-
lyze the AE fractal characteristics in time series. Mao et al. [30] pre-
sented an AE testing method to monitor the process of the single-
particle fragmentation and analyzed pro destruction waveform and
spectral characteristics. Combining the AE and DIC technologies,
Aggelis et al. [31] performed a four point bending test on concrete
with external reinforcement, and verificated the trends of AE
sources by the visual DIC surface displacement and strain field.
Han et al. [32] related the AE signals to the micro-plastic and
micro-fracture events of Q345, and explained the micro-
structures effects reasonably.
The similar material composed of certain ratio of sand and
paraffin in this study is accompanied by AE phenomenon under
loading, which provides means for investigating of the internal
nature and cracking evolution. Based on this, samples have been
prepared with different sand and paraffin ratio, the impact of
paraffin content on physical and mechanical properties and the
failure mode of SP samples are analyzed. Meanwhile, the propor-
tion of paraffin reflecting the real material is determined. AE
response characteristics of SP samples are tested and analyzed
and the cracks damage evolution law has been studied, the estab-
lishment of AE parameters and the stress and strain coupled model
with the experimental data were verified. Research on the scien-
447
tific evaluation of similar material simulation provides an impor-
tant theoretical and experimental basis.
2. Experiment system
2.1. Scheme of experiment system
The experimental setup consists of loading system (SANS com-
puter controlled servo press machine), AE acquisition system
(Micro-Ⅱdigital AE monitoring system with 24 channels which is
capable of real-time acquisition of AE parameters, and positioning
AE events in three-dimensional, matching AE sensor is NANO-30).
To achieve three-dimensional positioning function, we employ 6
sensors on the surface of the sample. To reduce the signal attenu-
ation, special coupling agent and bandage smear on AE sensor are
required, after finishing each probe arrangement and before exper-
imental, lead-off test need to be carried until the magnitude of the
signal reached at least 90 dB. Load control mode is adopted in the
experiment, and the loading rate is 50 N/s.
2.2. Preparation of sample
The paraffin contained in SP samples is fully refined 64# paraf-
fin (Fig. 2(a)), and the sands (Fig. 2(b)) of SP samples are sorted
through a sieve with particle size in the range from 0.425 mm
(40 mesh)–1.180 mm (16 mesh). The mixture is prepared based
on the proportion by paraffin weight of 14%, 13%, 12%, 11%, 10%,
8%, 6% and 4% which are numbered SP-14, SP-13, . . . , SP-4 respec-
tively (Here, we explained the decision of the paraffin mass pro-
portion briefly. When the mass proportion is less than 100:4, the
sands cannot bond together to make a whole. When the mass pro-
portion is over 100:14, the paraffin oil will spill out and paraffin is
saturated which can affect the material homogeneity). Then heated
until the two materials are mixed thoroughly by an electric stove
(Fig. 2(c)), after that the hot mixture need to be poured into a
U50  120 mm cylindrical mold (Fig. 2(d)) and applying a certain
load, removing the specimen after cooling down, both ends of
the sample polished smooth making it U50  100 mm cylindrical
standard test simples, each group contain three specimens and
with a total of 24, as shown in Fig. 2(e).
2.3. Mechanical properties and damage mode of sand-paraffin sample
2.3.1. Mechanical properties
Fig. 3 shows the complete stress-strain curves of SP samples
(Fig. 3a) and typical coal samples (Fig. 3b). Containing various
amounts of paraffin makes the throughout the samples failure pro-
cess exhibit different deformation characteristics. Samples with
high paraffin content have greater strength and smaller overall
deformation; SP samples also contain typical compaction phase
but with short duration, they are almost entirely linear elastic
deformation before the peak stress; there is no obvious trend of
stress decline and stress growth slowing down while in the critical
stage, after the peak the curve become gentler, and residual
strength is smaller.
We carried out the uniaxial compression, shear and Brazilian
splitting experiments to test the mechanical parameters (such as
compressive strength, tensile strength, elastic modulus, Poisson’s
ratio and the angle of internal friction) of SP samples with different
paraffin content. Results are shown in Fig. 4. With the increase of
the paraffin content, the compressive strength (0.38–2.26 MPa),
the elastic modulus (8.8–410.4 MPa), tensile strength (0.226–
0.362 MPa), Poisson’s ratio (0.296–0.320) and internal friction
angle (25.3°–29.4°) emerged as the overall upward trend. Under
448 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456

Fig. 1. Diagram of the experimental system.

(a) fully refined 64# paraffin; (b) sorted sands; (c) mixture of SP sample
(d) cylindrical mold; (e) SP samples
Fig. 2. The diagram for the preparation process and different ratio of SP samples. (a) fully refined 64# paraffin; (b) sorted sands; (c) mixture of SP sample (d) cylindrical mold;
(e) SP samples.

normal temperature condition, paraffin makes sand bond together
to make a whole. When SP samples contain less paraffin, cement-
ing is less effective and with less cohesion, so elastic deformation
resistance is weak and the mechanical parameters are smaller.
With the increase of the paraffin, sand cemented better and the
sample surface becomes smooth, shown enhanced integrity and
cohesion, so the average stiffness and mechanical parameters of
SP samples gradually increased.
2.3.2. Failure mode under uniaxial compression test
Though uniaxial compressive deformation of SP samples varies,
they can be divided into three main types. And to differentiate
between these three basic types, we designate them Type A, Type
B and Type C respectively. Type A is brittle shear failure, type B is
split wedge damage, and type C is squeeze flexible dust break
destructive. Type A and B occur in the sample with higher paraffin
content (12–14%), while low paraffin content (4–8%) associated
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456 449

2.5

SP-14 SP-13
2.0
SP-12 SP-11
SP-10 SP-8
SP-6 SP-4
Stress (MPa)

1.5

1.0

0.5

0.0
0.000 0.015 0.030 0.045 0.060
Strain

(a) SP samples (b) typical coal samples

Fig. 3. Complete stress-strain curves, (a) SP samples (b) typical coal samples.

2.5 Compressive strengt h 0.40 500 0.33 30

Tensile strength
Elastic modulus
29
2.0 Poisson's ratio 400 0.32

Angle of internal friction (°)

Angle of internal fric tion
Compressive strength (MPa)

0.35
Tensile strength (MPa)

Elastic modulus (MPa)

28

Poisson's ratio
1.5 300 0.31

0.30 27

1.0 200 0.30

26

0.25
0.5 100 0.29
25

0.0 0.20 0 0.28 24

4 6 8 10 12 14
Paraffin content (%)

Fig. 4. The influence of the mixture ratio for the SP samples’ mechanical properties.

with failure type C. Fig. 5 is the typical physical and the corre-
sponding sketch pictures.
Type A destruction of the failure mode accounts for the majority
of SP samples. The final destruction of type A is an extension of the
existing fault along the direction of fractures, mainly through
macroscopic shear fracture surface to the lower part of the sample,
most of the fracture surface and axial direction 45°. Type B shows
the splitting wedge failure mechanism, the samples break with
multiple shear plane and form the majority of macroscopic rupture
showing ‘‘八” (Fig. 5-B-1) and ‘‘Y” (Fig. 5-B-2) type. Type C is
extruded powder broken flexible destructive and it happens to
samples containing low paraffin content (4%, 6%). The main fea-
tures include no obvious major rupture surface, crushed destruc-
tion (Fig. 5-C-1) and lateral noticeably drum (Fig. 5-C-2),
showing a significant ‘‘flattening” trend.
Based on the above analysis of complete stress-strain curve,
physical and mechanical properties and the main failure mode,
it can be indicated that 100:14 of sand and paraffin is the most
suitable simulated material ratio. Therefore, the following study
of AE response characteristics bases on the samples with 14%
paraffin (SP-14-1, SP-14-2 and SP-14-3).
3. AE response of SP samples
3.1. The P-wave velocity of SP samples
Accurate velocity measurement is the base of AE localization to
investigate the crack evolution inside the samples. Besides, the P-
wave velocity is an important index to reflect the internal homo-
geneity of SP samples. So, in this paper, the formula to calculate
the P-wave velocity by using wave arriving time and length of
specimen is shown below, and results of P-wave velocity are given
in Table 1. The automatic picking up of P-wave arriving time by the
software is based on the threshold value and errors must be
corrected manually.
450 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456

(a) Physical pictures

(b) Corresponding sketch pictures

Fig. 5. The typical failure modes of loaded SP samples.

Table 1
The calculation table of P-wave velocity.

Sample Distance Automatically time Corrected time P-wave velocity Coefficient of variation
mm ls ls m/s %
SP-14-1 100.12 88.6 57.1 1753 0.57
SP-14-2 99.68 85.0 55.5 1796 0.64
SP-14-3 100.06 87.0 56.5 1771 0.07
Average – – – 1773 0.43

l Pa  Po
v¼
t1  t0
where, v is the P-wave velocity; l is the distance traveled in sam-
ples; t1 and t0 is automatically picked up time and corrected arriv-
ing time.
From the Table 1, the average wave velocity of three SP samples
with same paraffin content is1773 m/s, the coefficient of variation
(ratio of standard deviation to mean) is 0.57%, 0.64% and 0.07%
respectively which shows the prepared SP samples with good
homogeneity and can be used for the research of AE response
characteristics.
3.2. Time series characteristics of AE for loaded SP samples
Fig. 6 shows the curves of AE events for SP samples (SP-14-2
and SP-14-3) during uniaxial loading process (the stress level in
Fig. 6 means the ratio of current stress value to the peak stress)
and the AE responses and stress show a good positive correlation.
As the stress increases, the numbers of AE pulses and AE energy
values tend to rise and reach the max near the peak stress. Three
are 2 inflection points (point a and b) in the cumulative pulse
and energy curves which divide it into 3 stages including slow
growth stage (oa), rapid increasing stage (ab) and saturation
stage (bc). The calculation formulae of AE pulses, energy propor-
tion and duration of different loading stages are as follows (Take
the AE pulsed proportion for example). Table 2 shows the AE
pulses, energy proportion and duration at different loading
stages.
Pb  Pa
ð1Þ Poa ¼  100% Pab ¼  100%;
Pc Pc
Pc  Pb
Pbc ¼  100% ð2Þ
Pc
where, Poa, Pab and Pbc is the AE pulses proportion of slow growth
(oa) stage, rapid increasing (ab) stage and saturation (bc) stage
respectively; Po, Pa, Pb and Pc is the accumulative AE pulses at point
o, a, b, c respectively, and Po = 0.
In the early stage of AE slow growth (compaction stage), the AE
pulses and energy value are relatively high, which is closely related
to the nature of the SP samples. There are a large number of micro-
pores and micro-cracks inside SP samples, the internal micro-
cracks will close and generate AE events under the condition of
loading. As a result, the AE pulses and energy value are relatively
higher, but this process has a short duration. As the loading pres-
sure increases, SP samples enter the middle-later AE slow growth
stage which corresponds to the linear elastic stage of stress-
strain curve, the internal micro-cracks propagation shows the
properties of diversity and randomness, and AE events present
intermittent form. This process lasts the longest, accounting about
77.8% of the total loading stage, but the AE pulse numbers and
energy value only just account about 37.3% and 40.5% respectively.
Near the peak stress level (about 90%), a large number of internal
cracks extended and pierced with internal stored energy rapidly
releasing in a short time, AE events also go into the rapid increasing
stage simultaneously. At this stage the AE pulse numbers and
energy value reach to the peak. This stage last very short duration
accounting for only 10.3% of the whole loading process, but the AE
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456 451

400
2500
1.0 SP-14-2 1.0 SP-14-2 24000
800
c

Accumlative AE energy(mV· s)
b

Accumlative AE pulses(10 )
c

3
2000 300
0.8 b 0.8
18000

AE energy(mV· s)
Stress level 600

AE pulses
Accumulative
Stress level

Stress level

Stress level
Accumulative 1500
0.6 AE pulses 0.6 AE energy
a 200
a 12000

0.4 1000 400

0.4 AE energy
AE pulses 100
6000
0.2 500
0.2
200

o o
0.0 0 0 0.0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (s) Time (s)

3000 400 30000

c 800
1.0 SP-14-3 1.0 SP-14-3 c

Accumlative AE energy(mV · s)
b 2500 25000
b

Accumlative AE pulses(10 )
3
300 0.8

AE energy(mV· s)
0.8 600
2000 20000
Stress level

Stress level
Stress level

Stress level
AE pulses

0.6 0.6
1500 200 15000
400
a
0.4 0.4 Accumulative AE energy
Accumulative AE pulses 1000 a 10000
AE pulses 100 AE energy 200
0.2 500 0.2 5000

0.0 o 0 0 0.0 o 0 0
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 6. The time characteristics of AE response for SP samples.

Table 2
The accounting table of AE signals at different loading stages.

Samples Proportion
oa-slow growth stage (%) ab-rapid increasing stage (%) bc-saturation stage (%)
Time Pulses Energy Time Pulses Energy Time Pulses Energy
SP-14-1 73.9 15.4 22.6 10.2 77.2 70.3 15.9 7.3 7.0
SP-14-2 81.1 55.6 57.1 12.1 34 36.7 6.8 4.9 6.2
SP-14-3 78.4 40.8 41.8 8.6 51.5 51.8 13.0 7.6 6.4
Average 77.8 37.3 40.5 10.3 56.0 53.0 11.9 6.6 6.5

pulse numbers and energy value account for more than half of the produce AE events location. Because of the random distribution
whole loading process, respectively 56.0% and 53.0%. Owing to the of defects inside the SP sample, the AE location points are scattered
residual strength of SP samples, there are also internal cracks relatively, and location points gather at the edge of middle part of
extending and closing with a small amount of AE events after the the SP sample with obvious trend of expansion. With the increase
peak stress, and AE events come into the saturation stage. of loading stress level (before stress level of 60%), AE location
points begin to increase slowly and local AE events are dense at
3.3. The rule of space-time evolution of AE the edge of middle part. While at the 58% stress level, a small piece
of specimen falls from the position, and its volume are same as the
The temporal variation law of AE parameters (pulse number, area of local dense regions, showing that the AE locating technol-
energy, etc.) represents the evolution feature and the severity of ogy can well reflect the position of local rupture nucleation
internal damage at different loading stages. And the three- (Fig. 5-A-1). When the stress level is up to 60–80%, location points
dimensional space positioning of AE can intuitively reflect damage of AE begin to increase rapidly (accumulated up to 1166).
location and the evolution process of internal micro-cracks and Simultaneously, the dense areas of AE events start to appear at
micro-pore. Based on the P-wave relative arriving time of different the middle-lower parts, and the internal cracks begin to converge
position AE sensors (Fig. 1) and the simplex location iterative algo- in the direction of the main fracture. During the stress level of
rithm we can achieve the AE events positioning [33]. The space- 80–100%, the number of location points rise sharply (accumulated
time evolution of internal damage for SP sample (SP-14-1) is up to 2564), and the AE appears large staging area. The internal
shown as Fig. 7. micro-cracks converge, penetrate, join together and connect to
From Fig. 7 we can see, at the initial loading process (0–20% rc), form macro-cracks and macroscopic main fractures, and the SP
a slightly more number of damage inside the SP sample began to sample appears shear failure in the slope direction finally (the
appear (compared with sandstone). The SP sample is at compaction destruction of physical map is shown in Fig. 5-A-1). The main fail-
stage and the closure of original micro-fracture and micro-pore ure position is matched with the staging area of AE, while the AE
452 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456
0-20% c 0-40% c 0-60% c 0-80%
Fig. 7. The space-time evolution law for internal damage of SP-14-1.
pulse numbers and energy value reach the maximum value (Fig. 6)
at the same time. After the peak stress, the number of AE location
points only increases 15, appearing the phenomenon of ‘‘AE events
missing” [34].
4. Analysis and discussion
4.1. The damage evolution law of composite SP samples
There are a large number of original defects inside the compos-
ite SP samples, even if the same ratio of SP samples also shows
some different physical and mechanical properties. Under uniaxial
compression, SP samples experience a process from microcosmic
deformation to the final macroscopic rupture, and its internal dam-
age also experiences a process from quantitative change to
destruction. This paper uses the damage variable (abbreviated as
D) introduced by Y. N. Rabotnov [35]. The damage variable is cal-
culated according to formula (3).
~
A A  A
D¼ ¼ ð3Þ
A A
where, A is the initial cross-sectional area of the material, A is the
~ is the effective area, and D is the damage variable
damage area, A
which varies from 0 to 1. When D = 0, it indicates that the material
is in the state of no damage, while D = 1 corresponds to the com-
plete damage state of the material.
According to the hypothesis of strain equivalence [36] and
Hooke’s law in material mechanics [37], the damage variable D
can be obtained as follow.
r
D¼1 ð4Þ
eE
where, E is the elastic modulus of the material; r is the stress; e is
the strain.During the loading process of SP samples, the evolution of
D is shown in Fig. 8. The evolution of D can be roughly divided into
three stages: OA – the decline stage of damage reducing, AB – the
growth period of damage rising fast, BC – the saturated period of
damage slowly growing. SP samples as a kind of inhomogeneous
multiphase medium are made of sands with different sizes glued
by paraffin. There are a large number of micro-cracks and micro-
pores with different shapes and sizes inside, which cause SP sam-
ples exist initial damage. At the initial loading process, these inter-
nal micro-cracks and micro-holes are compacted and volume
becomes smaller, which can lead effective bearing area A ~ to be lar-
ger. According to formula (3), D is gradually reduced. With the load
c 0-100% c All stage of loading
continues, a large number of micro-cracks inside SP samples begin
to converge, penetrate and connect with each other, and the effec-
~ decrease dramatically, and D shows a trend of
tive bearing area A
rapid growth. When the SP samples are loaded to post-peak stress
(point B in Fig. 8), there are less micro-fracture development, so
the increasing speed of damage become very slow, damage curve
nearly become a horizontal line, and D reached to the maximum
(close to 1).
Damage evolution is a nonlinear process and it’s difficult to use
continuous function to represent the damage mechanism of inter-
nal cracks evolution in the whole loading process, which must be
employed fragment models to describe [38]. Here we established
the polynomial fitting curves of OA, AB and BC stage of damage-
strain respectively, and obtain the evolution equation of damage-
strain under uniaxial compression condition. It’s shown in Fig. 9.
The Fig. 9 shows that the result of quadratic polynomial fitting
is ideal for damage and strain of SP samples. The evolution equa-
tion of damage-strain of SP-14-1 and SP-14-3 are as following for-
mula (5) and (6) respectively.
8
< 21075:7e  124:2e þ 0:19 ð0 6 e < 3:62  10 Þ
3
> 2
D ¼ 1743:6e þ 90:1e  0:25 ð3:62  10 6 e < 24:5  103 Þ
2 3
>
:
298:9e2 þ 22:2e þ 0:58 ð24:5  103 6 e < 36:7  103 Þ
ð5Þ
8
< 4692:4e  80:8e þ 0:35 ð0 6 e < 7:94  10 Þ
3
> 2
D ¼ 1365:3e2 þ 94:9e  0:71 ð7:94  103 6 e < 30:3  103 Þ
>
:
1123:5e2 þ 88:4e  0:75 ð30:3  103 6 e < 43:8  103 Þ
ð6Þ
In order to study the particle size effect on the damage evolu-
tion, we analyzed the particle size and its distribution of SP-14-1
and SP-14-3 samples after loading failure by multi-level screening.
The result is shown as following Table 3. From the Table 3 we can
know that the particle size of SP-14-1 is distributed mainly in
range of 0.600 mm–0.710 mm and the weighted mean size is
0.693 mm. The particle size of SP-14-3 is distributed mainly in
range of 0.710 mm–0.850 mm and the weighted mean size is
0.748 mm.
In the decline stage of damage reducing (OA), the initial damage
of the smaller weighted mean size sample (SP-14-1) is larger rela-
tively, but strain value corresponding to the minimum damage
variable is smaller. So the quadratic coefficient in quadratic poly-
nomial fitting of SP-14-1 is larger. In the growth period of damage
rising fast (AB), the two fitting curves are nearly parallel and the
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456 453

2.5 2.5
SP-14-1 SP-14-3
1.0 1.0
C B C
2.0 B 2.0
0.8 0.8
- curve - curve

Damage variable

Stress (MPa)
D- curve

Damage variable
Stress (MPa)

1.5 D- curve 1.5

0.6 0.6
O
O
1.0 1.0
0.4 0.4

0.5 0.2 0.5 0.2

A A
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04
Strain Strain

Fig. 8. The evolution curves of damage-strain-stress for SP samples.

0.30 OA AB SP-14-1 BC
SP-14-1: 1.0 1.00
2
D=21075.7 -124.2 +0.19 SP-14-1: SP-14-1
0.25 SP-14-3 2 2
R =0.9218 0.8 D=-1743.6 +90.1 -0.25 0.98
SP-14-3

Damage variable
Damage variable

Damage variable

2
0.20 SP-14-3: R =0.9901
2
D=4692.4 -80.8 +0.35 0.6 0.96
2
0.15 R =0.9464
SP-14-1 SP-14-3
0.4 0.94
0.10 SP-14-3:
2 SP-14-1: SP-14-3:
D=-1365.3 +94.9 -0.71 0.92 D=-298.9 2+22.2 +0.58 D=-1123.5 2+88.4 -0.75
0.05 0.2 2
R =0.9657 2 2
R =0.9992 R =0.9875
0.00 0.0 0.90
0.000 0.001 0.002 0.003 0.004 0.005 0.006 0.007 0.008 0.005 0.010 0.015 0.020 0.025 0.030 0.024 0.028 0.032 0.036 0.040
Strain ( ) Strain ( ) Strain ( )

Fig. 9. The piecewise polynomial fitting curve of damage-strain.

Table 3
The particle size distribution and mass proportion for SP samples.

Particle size range SP-14-1 SP-14-3

Mesh Diameter Mass proportion Weighted mean size Mass proportion Weighted mean size
(mm) (%) (mm) (%) (mm)
16–18 1.180–1.000 4.2 0.693 6.1 0.748
18–20 1.000–0.850 10.3 16.4
20–25 0.850–0.710 18.6 35.3
25–30 0.710–0.600 42.8 25.2
30–35 0.600–0.500 16.7 12.6
35–40 0.500–0.425 7.4 4.4
P DismeterMass proportion
Note: Weighted mean size ¼ 100 .
where Diameter is the average value at different particle size range.

quadratic polynomial fitting coefficients are also very close to each 4.2. The coupling models of AE and mechanical parameters
other. But from the calculation results (the hollow point in Fig. 9),
we can find that the result of SP-14-1 is relatively smooth while Actually the failure process is the damage evolution of internal
the result of SP-14-3 presents obvious zigzag and mutation charac- micro-cracks. During the damage evolution process, the internal
teristics. In the saturated period of damage slowly growing (BC), crack extension and the grain sliding failure will produce AE
the damage variable of SP-14-3 is smaller and the strain is larger events. As the outward manifestation of the internal crack evolu-
at the early BC stage compared with SP-14-1. The SP samples are tion and developing characteristics, AE events are consistent with
complete failure at the late BC stage, the damage variables of these damage of loading samples, which means that there are internal
two SP samples are both close to 1, and the strain difference value relations between AE and the damage variation and the constitu-
of the two SP samples become small which is close to the strain dif- tive relation of specimen. Based on the view of the damage
ference value in OA stage. As a result, the absolute value of quad- mechanics, combining the AE parameter (accumulative pulses)
ratic coefficient in quadratic polynomial fitting of SP-14-3 is larger. and mechanical parameters (stress and strain), this paper obtains
454 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456

the coupling relationship between mechanical parameters r ¼ kt ð13Þ

and AE.
The evolution of defect inside SP samples can be considered as where k is the linear proportionality constant which represents the
the unbalanced statistical process. Assuming that the strength of rate of loading.
micro units of SP samples obeys Weibull distribution [39], so its Uniting formula (4), (12) and (13), formula (14) can be obtained.
probability density function is as follow.
  m 
m  e m1 e r kt
uðeÞ ¼ exp  ð7Þ e¼ ¼ ð14Þ
a a a Eð1  DÞ Eð1  X=Xm Þ

1 1 Combine and simplify formula (14) and (15) having

m¼ ¼ ð8Þ
lnðrp =E=eP Þ lnðEeP =rp Þ
p ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
pffiffiffiffiffi m
lnð1  X=Xm Þ½Eð1  X=Xm Þa
a ¼ m mep ð9Þ t¼
k
ð15Þ

where e is the strain of SP sample; m and a both are constant which Respectively substitute formula (15) into formula (13) and (14)
are related to the shape, dimension and internal micro-defect distri- and simplify the result, the coupling models of AE and mechanical
bution of samples, and their expressions are formula (8), (9) respec- parameters (stress and strain) are shown as follow.
tively [40]; uðeÞ is the measurement for the damage of micro units
of SP in the process of loading; rp and ep are the peak stress and cor- qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
responding strain, respectively. r ¼ Eað1  X=Xm Þ m lnð1  X=Xm Þ ð16Þ
The damage of SP similar materials and AE have the close rela-
tionship with the defects inside the micro units [41], and expres- qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
sions between the probability density function of micro failure e ¼ a m lnð1  X=Xm Þ ð17Þ
and D, AE accumulative pulses are shown as formula (10) and
(11) respectively. Formula (16) and (17) respectively represent the coupling rela-
tions of the X (accumulative AE pulses)  r (stress) and X (accu-
dD
¼ uðeÞ ð10Þ mulative AE pulses)  e (strain). The coupling models have no
de
relationship with the test linear proportionality constant k. It also
Z e illustrates that the accumulative AE parameters is a sign of internal
X ¼ Xm uðeÞde ð11Þ micro-structure change of SP samples as well as stress and strain.
0
The accumulative AE parameters have the invariable characteristic
where Xm are the numbers of the total AE accumulative pulses of space and time, and have no relationship with characteristics of
when the SP samples are loaded to destroy completely. experiment [42]. To test whether the coupling models are suitable
In the process of uniaxial compression of SP samples, the strain for composite SP samples, combined with the experimental data
increased from 0 to e under the force. Integrating formula (10) and and formula (16) and (17), we draw the coupling curves of AE accu-
(11), the damage variable D and AE accumulative pulses are mulative pulses and strain and stress, as shown in Fig. 10. From the
obtained. diagram, it can be seen the coupling relationship established in this
Z e   m  paper can well reflect the laboratory test results of SP samples.
X e
¼D¼ uðeÞde ¼ 1  exp  ð12Þ Based on the results of literature [42] we can also indirectly verify
Xm 0 a
that the internal micro-fracture evolution process of the composite
In this paper, we use the load control mode in the loading pro- SP samples is similar with rock or coal samples in spirit. So the
cess of SP sample, namely the load stress in direct proportion to the composite SP samples can be used as the material of similar simu-
time. lation of rock to conduct similar simulation experiment.

2.5 0.05
SP-14-1 SP-14-1
2.0 0.04

Experimantal results
(MPa)

1.5 0.03 Model results

Strain-

Experimantal results
Stress-

1.0 Model results 0.02

0.5 0.01

0.0 0.00
0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
3 3
Accumulative AE pulses- (10 ) Accumulative AE pulses- (10 )

(a) Strain epsilon - total number of pulse (b) Strain sigma - cumulative pulse number
Fig. 10. The coupling relation between AE parameter and stress-strain. (a) Strain epsilon – total number of pulse X. (b) Strain sigma – cumulative X pulse number.
 X. Wang et al. / Construction and Building Materials 132 (2017) 446–456
5. Conclusion
In this paper, by preparing composite SP samples with different
contents of paraffin, the physical and mechanical properties, the
response characteristics of AE and the space-time law of internal
micro-fracture damage of SP are studied. Main conclusions are as
the following.
(1) With the increase of the paraffin content, the compressive
strength (0.38–2.26 MPa), the elastic modulus (8.8–
410.4 MPa), tensile strength (0.226–0.362 MPa), Poisson’s
ratio (0.296–0.320) and internal friction angle (25.3°–
29.4°) emerged as the overall upward trend, while the fail-
ure pattern transitions to wedge splitting type and brittle
shear failure from extrusion powder flexible broken; The
main failure types of composite SP samples are the brittle
shear, the wedge splitting and the extrusion powder flexible
broken.
(2) The temporal variation law of AE parameters represents the
evolution feature and the severity of internal damage. The
three-dimensional space positioning of AE can intuitively
reflect damage location and the evolution process of internal
micro-structure. During the loading process of SP samples,
three are 2 inflection points in the cumulative pulse and
energy curves which divide it into 3 stages including slow
growth, rapid increasing and saturation stage; Based on AE
location technology, the evolution process of internal dam-
age of SP samples is as follows: AE events scatter, and inter-
nal micro-defects random distribution?AE events appear
dense locally, a small piece of specimen falls?AE begins to
increase rapidly and appear the AE events dense areas, and
internal cracks converge in the direction of the main frac-
ture?AE events rise sharply, and appears large AE staging
area, and the SP samples form the macroscopic main frac-
tures?AE events missing.
(3) The evolution of D of SP samples can be roughly divided into
three stages: the decline stage of damage reducing, the
growth period of damage rising fast and the saturated period
of damage slowly growing. Using the quadratic polynomial
fitting, fragment expressions of damage evolution mecha-
nism of SP are obtained. Based on Weibull distribution, the
AE parameters (cumulative pulses) coupling mechanical
parameters (stress and strain) expression are got, which fits
better with the experimental data.
Through the mechanical parameters, the main failure form, the
AE response characteristics and the evolutional rule of internal
damage, this paper evaluates the simulation material comprehen-
sively from the macroscopic appearance and microscopic mecha-
nism, which provides scientific basis for better determining the
selection and matching of analog simulation material.
Acknowledgments
This work is supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for
the Central Universities (2014ZDPY23), Excellent Innovation Team
of China University of Mining and Technology (2014ZY001), the
State Key Research Development Program of China (Grant No.
2016YFC0801404), and A Project Funded by the Priority Academic
Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions
(PAPD). We thank anonymous reviewers for their comments and
suggestions to improve the manuscripts. The authors are grateful
to all the coal mines mentioned in the paper for providing experi-
mental coal samples.
455
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