Study on Acoustic Emission Characteristics and Damage Evolution Law of Shale under Uniaxial Compression

Investigating the correlation between acoustic emission (AE) parameters and damage mechanisms in rock mechanics can help understand rock damage evolution under loading and provide a theoretical basis for engineering support and safety detection. Therefore, this paper presents experimental works on the correlation between AE and failure mechanisms of rock mass under uniaxial compression stress, with the aim of capturing the damage evolution leading to a new damage constitutive model. The experimental results indicate that the uniaxial compression process of shale can be divided into four stages according to AE characteristics. AE signals are minimal during the crack compaction and elastic stages. The crack initiation strength σ_ci, which is approximately 55% of the uniaxial compressive strength, is identified when the cumulative AE counts and damage factor begin to increase slowly. When axial stress reaches the damage strength σ_cd, which is approximately 80% of the uniaxial compressive strength, a significant number of AE signals are generated. AE phenomena can be observed during the unstable crack development and post-crack stages. Considering the initial damage to the rock, the damage factor D initially decreases and then increases with increasing cumulative ring-down counts rather than exhibiting a monotonic increase. The damage factor D is proportional to the cumulative AE counts N in the stage before rock failure.