Acoustic Emission Monitoring of High-Strength Concrete Columns Subjected to Compressive Axial Loading

Acoustic Emission (AE) nondestructive tests have attracted great interest for their use in the determination of structural properties and behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) elements. One of the applications this method can contribute to is in high-strength concrete (HSC) columns. These elements have a great advantage in the lower stories of high-rise buildings. However, the premature failure of the concrete cover and the brittleness nature of the failure is of a concern for engineers. This paper presents a study on the AE monitoring of HSC columns subjected to compressive axial loading. The study consists of four large-scale reinforced HSC columns with different confinement reinforcement and height. It is shown that the AE distributions in the columns are categorized by three stages. Moreover, the levels of loads reached at the first AE macro event are similar to the lower range levels of the nominal axial compressive strengths of the tested specimens, while the majority of macro AE events are located at the concrete cover. Based on the results of this study, AE monitoring can provide indications for the damage and load levels attained by reinforced high-strength concrete columns subjected to compressive axial loading.