Acoustic Emission-based Shear Fracture Characterization of Ultra-high
Performance Concrete with Varying Steel Fiber Contents
Abstract
This study investigates the shear fracture behaviors in UHPC under
direct shear conditions using Z-shaped specimens and acoustic emission
(AE) monitoring. The effect of steel fiber (SSF) contents (1%, 2%,
2.5%, and 3%) on the failure process and the relative slip of cracks
at different loading stages were measured and evaluated. The results
indicate that increasing the SSF content significantly enhances the
ultimate shear stress and ductility, effectively limits crack
propagation and formation, and reduces the extent of damage for UHPC.
During the failure process, an increase in the SSF content results in
higher cumulative AE energy and a tendency for the peak frequency to
shift towards the low-frequency range. Additionally, increasing the SSF
content expands the range of wavelet entropy values and delays the
occurrence of wavelet entropy. Due to the reinforcement effects of SSF,
the primary crack type evolved from shear to tensile during the failure
process.