Evaluation of Acoustic Emission Tests (AET) to Investigate Rock Burst

Rock burst is a violent rock failure process posing a significant threat to human safety in mining and tunnelling construction. This makes it of upmost importance to learn more about this hazard and develop a method to predict it. In the presented paper, a system to record acoustic emission during uniaxial loading and how to evaluate the recorded data in regard to rock burst is explained. The testing equipment and testing procedure are described in great detail and the results are evaluated and classified. Uniaxial compression tests were carried out for rock samples and artificial samples, during those tests acoustic emissions were recorded and evaluated through sophisticated software. By combining the different methods of determining certain crack class indicators, it was possible to classify the results in so-called deformation phases. From the certain properties of those deformation phases conclusion were drawn on the probability of rock burst occurring. The number of acoustic hits and the energy release recorded during the acoustic emission test are evaluated in regard to rock burst as well.