Quantification of progressive structural integrity loss in masonry with Acoustic Emission-based damage classification

Determining the mechanical behaviour of masonry under compression remains challenging, as masonry is anisotropic and heterogeneous in nature. This paper focuses on an Acoustic Emission (AE)-based method to quantify the progressive damage in masonry under cyclic compressive loads. In this study, eight masonry walls were built in combination with four different mortar types. Results indicated that critical limits applied for AE-based damage quantification in concrete were too conservative for masonry under axial loading. However, it is the first time that these AE indices are investigated in masonry. Nevertheless, a good agreement was found between the progressive damage quantification with AE based methods and through deformation analysis from Digital Image Correlation (DIC) and Linear Variable Differential Transformers (LVDTs). (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.