The applicability of acoustic emission (AE) techniques to monitor the mechanism of evolution of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fiber concrete damage under temperature fatigue loading is investigated. Using the temperature fatigue test, real-time AE monitoring data of PVA fiber concrete is achieved. Based on the AE signal characteristics of the whole test process and comparison of AE signals of PVA fiber concretes with different fiber contents, the damage evolution process of PVA fiber concrete is analyzed. Finally, a qualitative evaluation of the damage degree is obtained using the kurtosis index and b-value of AE characteristic parameters. The results obtained using both methods are discussed.
Keywords: PVA fiber-reinforced concrete; acoustic emission; damage assessment; health monitoring; temperature fatigue.