International Journal of Rock Mechanics & Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292

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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences

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

Uncertainty investigation for the classification of rock micro-fracture types

using acoustic emission parameters
Longjun Dong, Yihan Zhang, Shuijin Bi, Ju Ma *, Yihao Yan, Heng Cao
The School of Resources and Safety Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Classification of rock micro-fractures by acoustic emission (AE) parameters is of great significance for rock health
Acoustic emission monitoring, instability assessment, and precursor warning. But the criteria have not yet been universally formed
Micro-fracture for the most commonly used method employing rise angle (RA) and average frequency (AF). We conducted
RA-AF
expansion rupturing experiment and elastic wave attenuation experiments to investigate the uncertainties of the
Moment tensor
RA-AF method. Results show the range of the RA-AF distribution extends with the reduction of the AE source
scale. The RA-AF moves to the shear-type area in the axis for AE hits with delayed triggering. The RA increase
togethering with AF decreasing when the specimen become more compact and smaller in size. It indicates that
the fixed micro-fracture reference line is difficult to match potential changes in the RA-AF distribution and the
classification criteria is highly dependent on the experimental environment. The uncertainty of the RA-AF
method is influenced by the ray path and the source scale. The underlying reason is the uncoordinated distortion
between the numerator and denominator in the RA-AF calculation caused by the attenuation and dispersion of
elastic wave as well as the measurement error of characteristic parameters. It is concluded that the characteristics
of RA-AF are available to understand the comparative relation of different micro-fracture types, but quantify
their relations by the absolute proportion requiring consideration of a number of prerequisites. This work not
only clarifies the phenomena and reasons for the uncertainty of the RA-AF method but also provides theoretical
and experimental guidance for more rational improvement and engineering application.

1. Introduction
The classification of focal mechanisms of the microseismic (MS)
events on the regional scale and the discrimination of micro-fracture
types of the acoustic emission (AE) events on the laboratory scale are
of great importance for identifying the rock mass disasters,1,2 under­
standing the failure mode,3,4 evaluating the rupture processes,5,6 and
mastering the failure precursors.7,8 The sudden release of energy caused
by cracks, dislocations, friction, etc., within the material produces
transient elastic waves named AE. The AE technology is an important
mean to monitor the initiation, expansion, and evolution of rock
micro-fractures, since the AE waveform contains a wealth of information
about rock stress state,9,10 structure,11,12 damage,13,14 and physical
properties.15,16 The current common understandings surrounding the
mechanical behavior and acoustic characteristics of typical tension and
shear fracture are as follows: From the energy perspective, the tensile
strength of rock is lower than the shear strength at the macro and micro
levels. Generally speaking, the elastic strain energy required to form
transgranular cracks is greater than the elastic strain energy accumu­
lated by intergranular cracks. Therefore, shear fracture has both inter­
granular and transgranular failures, and its energy release may be more
severe intense; The amplitude and energy of the AE signal are higher
than tensile fracture; More energy is concentrated on the slower S wave.
From the waveform perspective, tension fracture forms an AE waveform
with a short rise time (R) and high frequency; The peak value of the
waveform generated by shear failure has a longer delay from the first
arrival point of the P wave, and the AE signal has a longer R with a
longer duration time (D), but a lower average frequency.17–20
The RA-AF (RA = rise time/amplitude, AF = Ring counts/duration
time) distribution characteristics appear in the upper left and lower right
regions, corresponding to the tensile and shear cracks respectively. This
makes it possible to distinguish the crack type by exploring a reference
line.21 However, the specific delineation of the reference line needs to be
referred to other technical methods. At present, the methods for deter­
mining the reference line mainly include can be divided into three cat­
egories: experiments analysis, cluster analysis, and frequency

* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: lj.dong@csu.edu.cn (L. Dong), majucsu@csu.edu.cn (J. Ma).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmms.2022.105292
Received 13 December 2021; Received in revised form 14 November 2022; Accepted 23 November 2022
Available online 18 December 2022
1365-1609/© 2022 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
L. Dong et al.
Fig. 1. Rock sample preparations and loading results: (a) Sensor layout (b) location results of AE source with the FT hits >60 dB (c) 200mm × 200mm × 200 mm
coarse-grained granite (d) 100mm × 100mm × 100 mm fine-grained granite.
characteristics analysis. Firstly, the dominant frequency analogy
method. The dominant frequency is the main carrier of the energy of the
AE source. The dominant frequency of AE in the rock failure test is
concentrated in several frequency band. Zhang et al.22 obtained the AF
(kHz): RA (ms/V) reference ratio for tensile and shear cracks in brittle
rocks by analogy with the ratio of high and low dominant frequencies
under compression and set the ratio at 1:100 to 1:500. Secondly, the
cluster analysis method. Jiao et al.23 used K-medoids clustering to
identify shear and tensile cracks in the RA-AF distribution and deter­
mined the cluster center. Wang et al.24 used the k-mean method to
classify AE crack types and took the intersection line of two clusters as
the reference line of the different crack types. This irregular reference
line is roughly determined at AF (kHz) = 2.5RA (ms/V). Thirdly, the test
division method. The micro-fracture in the rock under a specific and
monotonous stress environment is dominated by certain crack type.
Typical tests include the three-point bending test which mainly produces
tensile cracks and the direct shear test which mainly produces shear
cracks. Du et al.25 carried out AE tests on three lithological rocks under
four loading methods, and translated the starting point of the reference
line from the origin to the Y-axis based on the AE hits distribution
relationship of the Brazilian split and modified shear test. The reference
line for granite was determined as AF (kHz) = 0.11RA (ms/V) + 60. In
similar studies, some scholars used the distribution of AE hits in the
three-point bending test and the direct shear test to determine the
reference line ratio of sandstone and granite as AF (kHz) = 1.2RA
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
(ms/V)26 and AF (kHz) = 70RA (ms/V),27respectively. However, no
matter which ideas and methods are used to determine the classification
standards of micro-fracture types, even for rocks of the same lithology,
the ratio of these micro-fracture classification reference lines is still
different. The ratio between AF (kHz) and RA (ms/V-) of rock
micro-fracture type reference lines obtained in various studies is be­
tween 10− 1:1 and 104:1. It seems that there is no universality in the ratio
of reference line division.
In view of the sensitivity of AE characteristic parameters to rock
fracture patterns, the distribution characteristics of RA-AF could nor­
mally interpret the evolution behavior of micro-fractures in each stage
of rock failure. Kong et al.28 used AF (kHz) = 200RA (ms/V) as the
reference line of crack classification and analyzed the ratio of tension
and shear cracks in volcanic rock under uniaxial compression, triaxial
compression, and true triaxial compression conditions. Before the peak
failure, the change of RA-AF also provides meaningful precursor infor­
mation for rock instability. The increase of RA and the decrease of AF
reveal that the role of shear failure is becoming more and more crit­
ical.29 In addition, the RA-AF is also used to measure the role of physical
factors in the evolution of micro-fracture of rock mass destruction. Ge
et al.30 explored the influence of microwave heating on the change of
microcrack types of gabbro under uniaxial compression based on the
average value of RA and AF of AE hits. Yao et al.31 analyzed the dif­
ference in the distribution of RA and AF and believed that the water
content increased the possibility of shear slip failure of the rock. Meng
L. Dong et al.
Table 1
Basic physical and mechanical properties of the rock specimen.
Rock type Tensile strength (MPa) Compressive strength (MPa)
Fine-grained granite 10.97 179.84
Coarse-grained granite 3.44 89.97
et al.32 used the normalized RA value and AF value distribution to show
the evolution behavior of sandy mudstone with different bedding plane
angles under different loads.
In many previous researches, the distribution and evolution char­
acteristics of RA-AF value were analyzed by referring to the micro-
fracture classification ratio in the literature. However, the AE wave­
form is the result of multiple modes superimposed in the time domain.
The recorded waveform depends on the positional relationship between
the sensor and the AE source and the inherent response frequency of the
sensor.21 Objective factors such as the micro-structure defects and the
propagation distance will cause significant changes in the characteristic
parameters of elastic waves.19,33 For example, Pasiou et al.34 compared
differences in the RA-AF distributions recorded for sensors at different
locations using a reference line of the form AF (kHz) = 2•RA (ms/V).
The universality of reference lines and the rationality of quantitative
analysis about this method in rock mechanics have not been discussed in
depth. This paper discusses the uncertainty of the method for identifying
the rock micro-fracture type based on RA-AF. Firstly, the type of AE
event and hit are determined by moment tensor inversion and RA-AF
method in the tensile experiment with nonexplosive expansion agent.
On this basis, the potential errors of RA-AF in quantifying the
micro-fracture types and the factors affecting the RA-AF distribution
were discussed. Furthermore, to reveal the nature of this uncertainty,
the measurement error and propagation loss of the AE parameters were
investigated during elastic wave attenuation experiments with different
conditions. Finally, some suggestions are provided for reasonably
improving and applying AE characteristic parameters to quantify the
type of micro-fractures.
2. Experiment and method
2.1. Expansion rupturing experiment
The rock sample is made by arranging 3 cylindrical holes at equal
intervals on the middle axis of granite. The expansion force is provided
to the inside of the rock by injecting the rock static nonexplosive
expansion agent into the three circular holes. The forces along the axis of
the hole cancel each other out, causing tensile failure of the sample.35 A
total of 18 sensors are arranged on the 4 sides of the sample in an
alternately staggered arrangement to form an AE monitoring network
(Fig. 1a). Two sizes of granite (200mm × 200mm × 200 mm, 100mm ×
100mm × 100 mm) and two-particle sizes (fine-grained and
coarse-grained) granite were considered in the experiment. Several
basic physical and mechanical parameters of the used rock material have
been measured by uniaxial compression and Brazilian splitting tests, and
are presented in Table 1.
2.2. AE monitoring equipment
The AE acquisition system consists of AMSY-6 32-channel AE mea­
surement hardware and Vallen AE-Suite software. The hardware con­
sists 16 independent boards, each of which has independent 2 channels.
The sampling rate can reach 40 MHz. The accuracy is 18 bits and the
broadband operating frequency is 18 KHz-2.4 MHz. The VS45-H AE
sensor used is a piezoelectric sensor with wide frequency response. The
response frequency is 20 KHz-450 KHz, which can better cover the low
frequency and standard frequency range. In the acquisition parameters,
the preamplifier defaults to 34 dB, the threshold value, sampling fre­
quency setting, and the pre-sampling points corresponding to the
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
Density (kg/m3) P-wave velocity Elastic modulus (GPa) Poisson’s ratio
2731 4985 29.54 0.21
2533 3026 13.78 0.375
waveform trigger and termination point are set to 30 dB, 10 Mhz, and
1000 respectively. Rearm time and Duration Discrimination Time is set
to 300 μm and 150 μm to determine hit definition settings.
2.3. AE events acquisition method
The screening and extraction of AE event can effectively eliminate
noise signals except the rock fracture signal source, ensuring the effec­
tiveness of data analysis. A single AE event will trigger multiple sensor
channels to record AE hits at the same time. The rules usually consider
the number of trigger sensors, the arrival difference between the first
and last hit, the arrival difference between adjacent hits to screen AE
events. In the data processing of this paper, the hit signal that triggers all
channels is classified as an AE event. According to account the effect of
sample size, sensor arrangement, and physical properties of granite on
the propagation time of elastic waves, the Pulse-through before the
experiment is used to determine the arrival difference between the first
and last hits and the arrival difference between adjacent hits.
2.4. Location and focal mechanism inversion of AE event
The first arrivals of AE hit is extracted by cooperating with 4 methods
including AIC, Hinkey, Energy ratio, and Modified energy ratio. Taking
into account the limitations of arrival picking methods, the actual arrival
point is determined by the arrival picking result which is the most ahead
of the threshold trigger point among the above four methods. Based on
the corrected arrivals point, the arrivals point and first movement di­
rection of the P wave are accurately determined. The spatial location of
the AE event is calculated by the localization method without using
premeasured velocity based on the A* search algorithm.36 The location
accuracy is verified by the data of Pulse-through Test. The maximum
location error is less than 5%. We use the Bayesian moment tensor
inversion method to solve full moment tensor solutions, considering the
P-wave polarity, azimuth, and the takeoff angles of the rays. The clas­
sification of event types based on the results of moment tensor inversion
refers to Ma’work.37 To minimize the influence of background noise on
the signal, the data analysis only focuses on the location results of the AE
events with the first trigger (FT) hit amplitude exceeding 60 dB and the
inversion results of the focal mechanism to ensure the reliability of the
data.
3. Results
3.1. Identification of AE source types based on moment tensor
From the macroscopic force situation, the areas between the holes
and the areas on both sides are respectively subjected to a pair of
opposing compression forces and unidirectional compression forces in
the direction of the along hole axis. The rocks in the above areas are
subjected to tensile forces in the direction of the vertical hole axis. From
the actual fracture pattern, one or two tension cracks are formed in the
sample along the central axis of the hole, and the sample is divided into
two almost symmetrical parts (Fig. 1 c and d). Fig. 1b shows the spatio-
temporal evolution and intensity feature of the AE event in rock
expansion rupturing, where the position, size, and color bar of the
scatter corresponding to the location results, the AE energy level, and
the AE source occurred time, respectively. From the distribution of AE
events, the location results of AE events are almost distributed on both
sides of the main crack. The rock cracked from one end and gradually
L. Dong et al. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292

Fig. 2. Focal mechanism inversion in Expansion rupturing: (a) Hudson diagram of the moment tensor solutions (b) the proportion of AE source types for 4 categories.

Fig. 3. The distribution of RA-AF value and the proportion of AE source types: (a) FT hit∈(90 dB, 100 dB] (b) FT hit∈(80 dB, 90 dB] (c) FT hit∈(70 dB, 80 dB] (d) FT
hit∈(60 dB, 70 dB].

expanded to the other end. Based on the above three points of analysis, it
can be concluded that the failure mode of granite is dominated by the
tensile stress during the entire process of applying the load by the
nonexplosive expansion agent.
The result of the moment tensor is consistent with the stress status
and the failure mode of the sample, reflecting the overall consistency of
the macro-fracture surfaces and the micros-fracture sources. Fig. 2
shows the moment tensor inversion results of 7621 AE events with FT hit
amplitude more than 60 dB in the large-size coarse-grained granite. The
isotropic (ISO), double-couple (DC), and compensated linear vector
dipole (CLVD) components after the decomposition of the moment
tensor are used to describe the volume change and movement mecha­
nism at the AE source. It can be seen from the Hudson diagram that the
tension AE sources (+Crack and +ISO for tensile cracks, and -Crack and

4
L. Dong et al.
Fig. 4. The distribution of RA-AF of the first-trigger hit and other hits (a) FT hit∈(90 dB, 100 dB] (b) FT hit∈(80 dB, 90 dB] (c) FT hit∈(70 dB, 80 dB] (d) FT hit∈(60
dB, 70 dB].
–ISO for compression cracks) are significantly more than the shear AE
sources (double couple, at the center of the Hudson diagram). According
to the statistical results of the ISO, DC, and CLVD components, the
volume of the AE source changes significantly during the entire failure
process, which is related to the internal expansion environment (tension
and compression). From the distinguished AE source types, the shear-
type accounts for only 17% of all AE events. The remaining types ac­
count for 83%, the tensile and compression types of which reach 47%
and 35.5%, respectively. The tensile failure made are formed under the
dominance of tension and compression types of micro-fractures. In the
variation of AE source scale, the ratio between the tension types (tension
and compression) and the shear types remains almost constant.
3.2. Uncertainty of AE source scale
On the basis of abnormal value detection of boxplot, RA and AF
values with deviations of more than 3 standard deviations between the
observed value and the average value are excluded from each statistic.
The amplitude of the FT hit of an AE event, to a certain extent, char­
acterizes the AE source scale. So the 7961 AE events are divided into 4
categories: FT hit∈(90 dB, 100 dB], FT hit∈(80 dB, 90 dB], FT hit∈(70
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
dB, 80 dB], and FT hit∈(60 dB, 70 dB]. This corresponds to 4 categories
of the focal mechanism inversion results (Fig. 2b). We use moment
tensor results as the criterion to determine the reference line for micro-
fracture type division in the RA-AF distribution (Fig. 3). The slopes of the
reference lines for dividing the micro-fracture types are 0.59, 0.22, 0.11,
and 0.057 in sequence on the premise of maintaining micro-fracture
types with the same proportion. The slope of the reference line de­
creases as the scale of the AE source decreases. Therefore, it can be
considered that even in the same AE experiment, a unified reference line
cannot be used to quantify the type of AE sources with different scales. In
addition, it is worth noting that the deviation of the slope of the refer­
ence line brings about significant fluctuations in the proportion of AE
events. The slope of the reference line for all the above AE hits is
calculated to be 0.064. If the reference line with RA/AF = 0.064 is used
to classify the type of AE events which of FT is more than 90 dB, almost
all AE hits are considered to be generated by tension micro-fracture.
3.3. Uncertainty of the trigger sequence of AE event
The FT hit of AE event represented by a five-pointed star is least
affected by the relative attenuation (Fig. 4). The time difference between
L. Dong et al. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292

Fig. 5. The distribution of RA-AF with different sample size and compactness. (c) FT hit∈(90 dB, 100 dB] (d ~ f) FT hit∈(80 dB, 90 dB] (g ~ i) FT hit∈(70 dB, 80 dB]
(j ~ l) FT hit∈(60 dB, 70 dB]. Yellow corresponds to granite with 100 × 100 × 100 mm and fine-grained, green corresponds to granite with 100 × 100 × 100 mm and
coarse-grained, and blue corresponds to granite with 200 × 200 × 200 mm and coarse-grained. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the Web version of this article).

6
L. Dong et al.
Fig. 6. Elastic wave attenuation dissipation experiment.
the FT hit and other AE hits indicates the relative positional relationship
between the AE source and each sensor. Similarly, the time difference
can be used to quantify the trigger sequence of the AE hit approximately.
Comparing the relative order of hit triggering in the AE event with the
RA-AF distribution (Fig. 4), the distribution of the 4 categories AE
sources shows 2 consistency characteristics. Firstly, the AF of the FT hit
has the largest distribution range, and the RA is concentrated on the
minimum value area, and the overall distribution is on the far right.
Secondly, the RA value of the AE hit with triggered delay gradually
increases, while the distribution area of the AF value gradually decreases
Fig. 7. Change of characteristic parameters of different sources: (a) granite (b) sandstone.
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
and moves toward the area with a smaller value. It is obvious that the
micro-fracture type of AE hits belonging to the same AE event are not
consistent. As the hit with triggered delay gradually moves to the lower
right of the coordinate axis, when using the reference line to quantify the
proportional relationship, there is a possibility that the AE source can be
judged from the tension to the shear type.
3.4. Uncertainty of sample size and compactness
Since the spatial distribution of the AE sources generated from the
expansion failure is concentrated near the axis of the circular hole, the
propagation distance between the AE source and the sensor in the large
size sample can generally be regarded as twice as much as that in the
small size sample under a proportional viewing angle. Fig. 5 shows the
distribution of RA-AF of AE hits corresponding to 4 categories AE events
in different samples. The RA and AF values present a consistent trend of
change, and their distribution ranges gradually expand as the FT hit
amplitude decreases. The upper limit of the RA value with the large-
sized or coarse grain sample is higher, and the upper limit of the AF
value is lower. Under the influence of the two factors of compactness
decreasing and size increasing, the RA and AF show different charac­
teristics of change. The overall range and concentrated area of RA pre­
sent more scattered and the upper limit of the RA value gradually rises.
However, taking the events with FT amplitude above 90 dB as an
example, the AF span is roughly 30~101 kHz, 26–54 kHZ, and 23~42
kHz respectively. The overall range and concentrated area of AF distri­
bution narrow and move in the direction of lower value.
The deviation of RA and AF from the true value is enlarged under the
influence of the size and grain effect. If the fixed reference line recom­
mended from other literature is used to divide AE sources types, the
L. Dong et al.
Fig. 8. Change of characteristic parameters of different frequencies pulses: (a) granite (b) sandstone.
proportion of shear type will increase significantly in large sized or
coarse grain sample. In other words, the slope of the reference line needs
to be adjusted according to the sample size and compactness even for the
same lithology. This causes a potential error in the quantification pro­
cess and is neglected in many current pieces of research.
4. Discussion
To further explore the uncertainty of the micro-fracture type analysis
based on characteristic parameter, we considered the potential effects of
the elastic wave propagation loss and the measurement error of the
characteristic parameter combined with experiments. Two kinds of
rocks, sandstone and granite, were processed into rectangular samples of
40 mm × 40 mm × 2000 mm, and elastic wave attenuation experiments
were carried out. 10 points are taken on the axis of each sample to
arrange the sensors, numbered from No.1 to No.10 in sequence, with a
distance of 15 cm between adjacent two points (Fig. 6). The coupling
agent was applied to the sensor surface and the clamp is used to fixed the
sensor on the sample surface smoothed with 120-mesh fine sandpaper.
The No. 1 and No. 10 sensors on both sides sent out active pulse signals
that were repeated 4 times during the experiment. The 0.7 mm diameter
HB lead core is repeatedly broken 3 times with an angle of 30◦ at the
rock surface near the No. 1 and No. 10 sensors. The remaining sensors
are used to receive active pulses and break signals. It should be
emphasized that the attenuation experiment and the tension experiment
are both performed in a quiet room with consistent background noise
and a threshold of 30 dB. This ensures the consistency of measurement
of the AE parameters affected by the threshold error in attenuation
discussion.
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
4.1. Variation of RA-AF value of AE sources with different types by
propagation distance
Fig. 7 shows the variation of the characteristic parameters of the
pulse and broken lead in sandstone, and granite with the propagation
distance. The straight line and the shaded part show the nonlinear fitting
result and the fitting range of the 95% confidence interval of each
characteristic parameter, respectively. In terms of consistent change
trends, the amplitude and R present a downward trend and upward
trend with the increase of the elastic wave propagation distance. The
changes of the two parameters determine that the RA value presents an
upward trend. The ringing counts (C) and D decrease with the increase
of the propagation distance, resulting in a downward trend of the AF
value. In terms of inconsistent change trends, the fluctuation range of
granite RA is smaller, and the downward trend of sandstone AF is more
significant. Although there are more observable structural surfaces in
the granite, the grains in the sandstone have more pores and smaller
sizes. The decrease of rock compactness and the increase of the number
of structural surfaces cause a larger degree of elastic wave attenuation. It
can be clarified that the values of RA and AF gradually deviate and
develop to positive trend and negative trend respectively during the
attenuation of the elastic wave. The distortion of RA and AF is the
essential reason why the reference line is not universal in different
experimental environments.
4.2. Variation of RA-AF value of acoustic sources composed of different
frequencies by propagation distance
The difference between typical tension crack and shear crack is
evident in the dominant frequency and frequency component
L. Dong et al.
Fig. 9. Change of characteristic parameters of different intensity pulses: (a) granite (b) sandstone.
composition. The AE system has the function of emitting pulses
composed of different frequencies under the same voltage value. The
frequency distribution of normal pulses is 120 kHZ~210 kHZ, and the
frequency distribution of low pulses is 120 kHZ~150 kHZ. Therefore,
two forms of active pulses can simulate the attenuation of elastic waves
produced by different crack types. It can be seen in Fig. 8 that the RA-AF
value change of elastic waves with different frequencies is not the same.
This different attenuation characteristic with propagation distance is
obviously related to the AE signal frequency. The rising trend of RA
value is more obvious under the high-frequency signal regardless of the
rock, which is caused by the more significant dissipation of the high-
frequency wave during the propagation process. The loss phenomenon
of the AF value is amplified in the sandstone. The attenuation trend
difference between the high and low frequency and the overall attenu­
ation amplitude of the granite AF value are smaller than that of sand­
stone. In summary, the high-frequency components play a more
significant role in the distortion of RA and AF values in elastic wave
propagation. As the increases in propagation distance, the characteristic
parameter distribution of tension type cracks is easier to move to the
position of shear type.
4.3. Variation of RA-AF value of AE sources with different signal
strengths by propagation distance
Active pulses with different voltage values were set in the experi­
ment. The purpose is to investigate the RA-AF attenuation law during the
propagation of elastic waves with different energy intensities the con­
dition that the spectrum composition remains unchanged (Fig. 9). The
attenuation trend and overall value of RA increases with the decrease of
pulse intensity in granite. The sandstone RA show the same
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
characteristic but exhibit some differences in the attenuation process:
the RA of elastic waves with low-energy intensity start from the No.8
sensor, and change from the rising trend to the falling trend. It should be
noted that the threshold set in the experiment reaches 30 dB, while the
amplitude of elastic waves behind the No. 8 sensor in sandstone is less
than 40 dB. For such AE signals with a low signal-to-noise ratio, the
characteristic parameters often have large errors with the actual values,
which is also the reason for the inflection point of the trend. There is no
obvious difference in the attenuation trend of AF under different elastic
wave energy levels, but the overall value increases with the pulse in­
tensity decreasing. This change law corresponds to the increasing trend
of the upper limit of AF and RA with the decrease of the FT hit (or the
decrease in the AE source scale) in section 3. Under the influence of this
numerical loss, the error of RA-AF will be gradually enlarged with the
weakening of AE sources. One possible explanation is that in the
calculation of the RA value, the loss of R in the numerator is almost
linear, while the decrease of A in the denominator is an exponential
trend. The inconsistency in the degree of distortion between the
numerator and the denominator is an important reason for this phe­
nomenon of numerical increase. The tail wave is caused by the reflection
and scattering of the acoustic wave when it propagates in the mixture
medium through different cross sections. Meanwhile, The different
phase velocities of each component of the acoustic wave lead to the
change of the waveform in time domain, and the higher the frequency,
the faster the phase velocity. As shown in Fig. 10, the earlier part of the
waveform in the time domain has a relatively higher frequency
composition. With the decrease of the overall intensity of AE signal, part
of tail wave are gradually submerged by background noise. In the AF
measurement, the front part of the waveform is increasingly considered,
so AF show an upward trend in the calculation.
L. Dong et al.
Fig. 10. The chosen AE wave examples of the calculated AF under 30 dB threshold: AE waveforms with an amplitude of (a) 98 dB and (b) 90 dB. The AF corre­
sponding to the waveform enclosed by the red brackets is listed above the red brackets. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is
referred to the Web version of this article).
4.4. Variation of RA-AF value of AE waveforms under different
thresholds
In the AE experiment, the threshold is generally determined based on
the background noise of the experimental environment. The AE
threshold in a common test environment is set between 35 and 50
dB,22,38–41 or even higher.9,42 The higher the threshold value, the more
the original waveform is covered. The first arrival waves and coda waves
is gradually ignored in the calculation of the AE characteristic param­
eters (Fig. 11). The influence of this measurement error phenomenon on
the characteristic parameters involved in crack type identification is
shown in Table 2. In Table 2, the AE characteristic parameters corre­
sponding to waveforms with different amplitude are calculated by
setting thresholds including 30 dB, 35 dB, 40 dB, 45 dB, and 50 dB.
Likewise, it can also be understood that the influence of different
background noises on the AE characteristic parameters of different
waveforms is shown. In the calculation of RA-AF, the amplitude mea­
surement is not affected by the threshold setting, but the actual values of
the other three parameters (R, C, and D) were deviated. R, C, and D show
a downward trend as the threshold increases. As a result, RA shows a
continuous decline, and the magnitude of the decline will gradually
weaken with the increase of the AE amplitude or the signal-to-noise
ratio. The AF is fluctuating, but the influence of the AF by measure­
ment error is relatively limited. The range of the fluctuation is almost
within 10 kHz, unless there is a low signal-to-noise ratio signal. For
example, AE waveforms with amplitudes of 51 and 55 dB under a
threshold of 50 dB. Compared with the threshold value set too high for
the AE amplitude, it will lead to obvious calculation errors in RA-AF.
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International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
From the perspective of the AE data analysis, the object of AE
research generally refers to the effective part of the AE magnitude sta­
tistical catalog, and the minimum magnitude of the AE magnitude sta­
tistical catalog is determined by the background noise. The
characteristics of the AE power-law distribution lead to a very high
proportion of small-scale AE sources, but it is obvious that the other
characteristic parameters of small-scale AE sources cannot be calculated
accurately except for the amplitude. Therefore, A large number of AE
source data with amplitude close to the threshold have to be ignored in
data analysis. On the other hand, the RA-AF rate of the larger-scale AE
sources shows obvious fluctuations under the influence of the increase of
the threshold. When classifying the micro-fracture type by the reference
line, the range of this fluctuation is acceptable. However, It is difficult to
classify certainly the micro-fracture type for the AE sources whose RA-
AF rates are close to the specific reference ratio.
4.5. Attenuation loss and measurement error
The distribution of RA-AF is determined by the fracture mode, and is
also significantly affected by factors such as AE equipment, rock sample,
and AE source under the same stress environment (Fig. 12). Rock, as a
heterogeneous elasto-plastic material, produces energy attenuation and
frequency dissipation due to the absorption, scattering, friction, and
wave impedance interface between elastic waves and the material dur­
ing propagation process. As a result, the gradual increase of RA causes
the overall distribution to move to the positive direction of the x-axis,
while the gradual decrease of AF causes the overall distribution to move
to the negative direction of the Y-axis. The elastic wave generated by the
L. Dong et al.
Fig. 11. The chosen AE wave examples of the calculated RA-AF under different thresholds: AE waveforms with an amplitude of (a) 51 dB, (b) 55 dB, (c) 58 dB, and
(d) 62 dB.
tension crack with the most high-frequency components is more sensi­
tive to the attenuation effect, and the loss of the high-frequency part
causes greater errors in the characteristic parameters. Under the influ­
ence of the dispersion effect and attenuation effect, even if the time-
frequency composition of AE signals is the same, the RA-AF increases
as the AE scale decreases. Moreover, the attenuation effect of elastic
waves will be amplified as the rock integrity decreases and the sample
size increases. The changes of size and compactness needs to be matched
by the movement of the reference line under the same lithological rock.
On the other hand, the submergence for part of the real signal by
background noise or the threshold in the experiment inevitably caused
the measurement error of the characteristic parameters. This problem is
gradually serious as the AE overall amplitude decreases, especially
resulting in outliers that are generated in low signal-to-noise ratio sig­
nals. Through the analysis of the above two aspects, it can be seen that
the AE hit of the trigger delay and the AE hits with the lower amplitude
are more significantly affected for the AE data from the same
experiment.
On the premise of not unifying the standard of above-mentioned
influencing factors, it is difficult to promote the reference line. There­
fore, if the classification standard needs to be relatively accurate, the
reference line in any experimental environment should be given inde­
pendently. It is planned to consider introducing attenuation coefficient
and quality factor to modify the RA and AF values to reduce the potential
error of attenuation loss and measurement error in the follow-up study.
Of course, the micro-fracture is simplified as a tension or shear type, and
the complexity of the cracking mode of a highly heterogeneous body
such as rock under the difference of macro and micro force is ignored.
Mixed type micro-fractures are difficult to be clearly identified by RA-
AF. This is also an important reason why it is difficult to accurately and
quantitatively study rock fracture evolution based on the RA-AF method.
In the case of the RA-AF dynamic distribution and the reference line
unknowing, it is a more realizable choice to qualitatively recognize the
11
International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292
temporal evolution characteristics of the relative ratio of tension-shear
crack.
5. Conclusion
To evaluate uncertainties of the RA-AF method for identifying rock
micro-fracture types, we explored the possible influences caused by the
source scale, the trigger time, as well as the rock sample. We conclude:
(1) For the same AE experiment, the RA-AF distribution expands and the
reference line gradually tilt towards the shearing area as the AE source
scale decreases. (2) For the AE hit from the same AE source, the AE hit
gradually moves away from the distribution position of the FT hit RA-AF
along with the trigger sequence. (3) The enlargement of the size and the
decline of the structure compactness lead to the RA-AF distribution
move toward the Y-axis negative direction and the X axis positive
direction.
Furthermore, the elastic wave attenuation with different acoustic
types, frequency compositions, and signal strengths are also used to
clarify the influences of factors (attenuation loss and measurement
error) on the distribution of RA-AF. We confirm: (1) Under the influence
of attenuation loss, the RA value and AF value show opposite trends with
the increase of the propagation distance. In particular, the AE source
with higher frequency components (analog tension fracture) amplifies
this attenuation effect. (2) The threshold and background noise lead to
the measurement loss of characteristic parameters and may produce
outliers from low signal-to-noise ratio signals. (3) The value of RA-AF
enlarge in the AE source with a lower scale due to the velocity dispersion
and the coda wave loss.
In view of the existence of many factors affecting the rock AE
experiment system, the RA-AF reference criteria of each experiment are
relatively independent. The RA-AF is an important means to qualita­
tively understanding the distribution and evolution of AE source types in
rock, but many prerequisites need to be considered when they are used
L. Dong et al. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292

Table 2
AE characteristic parameters under different thresholds.
AE Wave Threshold (dB) R (μs) A (mV) D (μs) C RA (ms/V) AF (kHz) Rate

51 dB 30 26.4 0.36 188.7 17 72.87 90.09 1.24

35 25.3 0.36 71.3 7 69.83 98.18 1.41
40 21.2 0.36 55.4 5 58.52 90.25 1.54
45 15.9 0.36 23.1 2 43.89 86.58 1.97
50 0.8 0.36 1.6 1 2.21 625.00 283.05
55 dB 30 60.8 0.52 202 16 117.47 79.21 0.67
35 59.1 0.52 165.5 14 114.19 84.59 0.74
40 50 0.52 134.4 11 96.61 81.85 0.85
45 32.5 0.52 82.8 7 62.79 84.54 1.35
50 14.6 0.52 50.4 2 28.21 39.68 1.41
62 dB 30 58.9 1.36 393.3 19 43.38 48.31 1.11
35 58.1 1.36 284.2 11 42.79 38.71 0.90
40 53.5 1.36 237.9 8 39.40 33.63 0.85
45 52.7 1.36 146.5 6 38.81 40.96 1.06
50 46.1 1.36 105.1 4 33.95 38.06 1.12
68 dB 30 60.8 2.72 555.6 18 22.39 32.40 1.45
35 59.7 2.72 538.7 17 21.98 31.56 1.44
40 51.3 2.72 450.9 15 18.89 33.27 1.76
45 49.5 2.72 417.3 14 18.23 33.55 1.84
50 41.1 2.72 227.5 7 15.13 30.77 2.03
74 dB 30 25.8 5.43 626.8 27 4.75 43.08 9.06
35 25 5.43 591.7 23 4.61 38.87 8.44
40 23.7 5.43 555.3 21 4.37 37.82 8.66
45 18.4 5.43 344.2 15 3.39 43.58 12.86
50 17.6 5.43 297.2 11 3.24 37.01 11.42
83 dB 30 47.1 14.81 1998.8 75 3.18 37.52 11.79
35 42.9 14.81 1804.2 52 2.90 28.82 9.95
40 42.2 14.81 1600.8 33 2.85 20.61 7.23
45 41 14.81 724.8 22 2.77 30.35 10.96
50 39.6 14.81 699.8 21 2.67 30.01 11.22
90 dB 30 56.4 34.84 1169.8 43 1.62 36.76 22.71
35 55.9 34.84 979.8 32 1.60 32.66 20.36
40 54.7 34.84 786.2 25 1.57 31.80 20.26
45 49.5 34.84 661.8 23 1.42 34.75 24.46
50 48.6 34.84 645.1 23 1.39 35.65 25.56
98 dB 30 76.6 82.73 1567.3 50 0.93 31.90 34.45
35 75.8 82.73 1548.9 53 0.92 34.22 37.34
40 74.7 82.73 1418.7 42 0.90 29.60 32.79
45 70.7 82.73 1342.9 30 0.85 22.34 26.14
50 70.3 82.73 882.2 27 0.85 30.61 36.01

to quantify the specific proportion of AE source types. The following

issues should be paid attention to in determining the reference line: (1)
Properly divide the interval according to the AE source scale, and
determine the classification criteria of each part independently. (2) It
can be considered to ignore the AE whose difference between the
amplitude and the threshold is less than 5 dB when selecting data
analysis objects. (3) The first trigger AE hit is considered as far as
possible to classify the micro-fracture type under the condition that the
number of sensors is sufficient and the network is evenly arranged. The
following issues should be emphasized in the promotion of reference
line: (1) The reference line of the micro-fracture type should recommend
on the premise of clarifying the specific rock type, sample size, and
shape, instead of just roughly distinguishing the basic rock types such as
granite, marble, and sandstone. (2) It should also clarify the AE acqui­
sition parameter, threshold, and sensor type as well as emphasising the
magnification of the preamplifier in the reference line to correct the
specific reference ratio.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial

interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
Fig. 12. Factors and causes of uncertainties. the work reported in this paper.

Data availability

Data will be made available on request.

12
L. Dong et al. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 162 (2023) 105292

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